


Alternate Oddity

by The_duke_is_back



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Reality, Eventual Smut, M/M, Reality Traveling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:02:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22519678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_duke_is_back/pseuds/The_duke_is_back
Summary: Eren finally gets to travel to an alternate reality. As an oddity, a person who doesn't have a carbon copy in another reality, it's unusual for them to go to other realities. However, when they arrive, Eren is pulled away from the group by the natives and has to watch as his squad is killed. He is taken back to the native's village, not knowing why he was the only kept alive, but figuring it has something to do with another oddity. This oddity had raven black hair and steel gray eyes. Who is he? Why did he keep Eren alive? What do they want from Eren?
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 25
Kudos: 124





	1. The Captured

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Mikasa asked, worried. Eren waved aside her concerns. 

"Relax! I'll be fine. What do you think all that extra training was for?" He laughed and she smiled slightly. 

"I don't know Eren. Oddities don't normally do well on alternate realities. You should probably stay here." Eren sighed at Armin's comment. 

"Armin, you know how much I've been looking forward to this. You'll be heading on your third trip soon enough and Mikasa will be going on her seventh. Please, don't try to talk me out of going. I've been trying to get this far for _years_ now Armin." Armin sighed but nodded. Eren went into the changing room and dressed in the standard uniform. He exhaled nervously as it stuck to his skin. He knew it was supposed to be skin tight but it almost made him feel like he was wearing nothing. 

He picked up the normal gear that they got. The scanner and the food producer. The scanner would check if natural resources were edible, what their species, and what possible uses they had. The food producer was in case they got separated from the group and needed something because their scanner wasn't working. Eren had reviewed everything he might need to know the night before. He went out and joined the crew.

Mike, the group leader, welcomed Eren.

"This is going to be your first time, right Eren?" Eren nodded eagerly. 

"I'm so pleased to be here! Please take care of me!" Mike and the other members of the group chuckled. Some of them patted him on the back and Eren laughed nervously. Mike smiled at him. 

"Don't worry. We've all got each other's back. Besides, if the natives don't speak our language, that's why we have the translators. Don't use them until we've established that none of us can communicate with them." Everyone nodded. Eren swallowed as a female voice came over the intercom. 

"Portal opens in T minus, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The glowing circle appeared and they began to step through. Eren stepped through right before Mike, who had to stay behind everyone else to make sure that everyone made it through. Once through, Eren's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the surrounding. 

Emerald fields swelled and the grass swayed like the great plains once did. In front of him, he could see a dark brown mountain rising high into the sky with snow capping it's peak. Ahead, between the plains and the mountain, lay a dark pine forest. The branches drifted and Eren heard something near him. He turned and saw a face in the grass. He yelped and took a step back. Mike caught his shoulder with a smile. 

"Will you speak with us?" Mike asked the person. The person made a growling noise and spoke in an unknown tongue. More people began to appear from the grass, clearly confused by why some of the group members looked exactly like them. The others would smile and try to approach them but the natives pulled away with dangerous growls each time they did. Finally, another head rose above the grass. Eren's eyes widened. 

It was an oddity.

Raven black hair styled in an undercut with bangs falling into steel gray eyes. Pale white skin covered as much of him as he could see. 

"Mike..."

"Yeah. I see him." The oddity glared dangerously at Mike as he approached. Mike smiled warmly and tried to talk again.

"Will you talk with us? Please?" The oddity spoke in their tongue and two natives grabbed Eren and he was yanked away from the group with a cry. Mike and the other members tried to go after him but the natives forced them back with spears that had been hidden in the grass. The group pulled back, forced by the sharp blades. Eren's hands were tied behind his back and he was brought to the oddity. He watched him with a fearful gaze. The oddity tilted Eren's head this way and that. He nodded and pulled Eren against him. Eren whimpered from fear. The oddity spoke and the natives began to stalk forward. Soon the group was cornered. They didn't carry weapons because they didn't want to frighten native dwellers. 

The oddity spoke again and the natives raised their spears. Eren screamed and tried to tear free of the oddity as they stabbed his friends. Once they all fell, Eren went limp. His mind was frozen on the deaths of his comrades.

"Why? They didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered. He felt someone scoop him up and the next thing he knew, Eren was tossed over someone's shoulder. He simply didn't care what happened anymore.

_They're dead._

_They're gone and nothing can bring them back._

_Why?_

_Why did I survive but no one else?_

_Why did they make me watch??_

Eren didn't even notice he was sobbing as he entered a village. The other natives noticed the sobbing boy tossed over one of their own's shoulder but ignored it. He was carried into a tent and they sat him down. The oddity tied a thin but tough rope to Eren's ankle. He tied it tightly through a carved hole in a stick and impaled that in the dirt. He waved a hand in front of Eren's face but Eren ignored him. 

After what felt like an eternity, Eren returned from his cloud of white numbness. The tent flap opened and he looked up at the face that came in. It was the oddity. The oddity held his hands out and Eren sees a few things in it. A communicator (to get in contact with home base), a translator, and another food producer. Eren slipped the translator into his ear and turned it on. 

"Why? They didn't mean any harm!" he sobbed, tears streaking down his cheeks. The oddity lowered his hands and Eren looked up at him pleadingly. The oddity sighed. 

"How were we to know that? Demons taking our skins rarely appear evil. It was better to be safe than sorry but you were different. You were odd from them. So I took you." Eren sobbed harder. He had been saved because of his oddity? Because he didn't have a clone? The oddity reached to comfort him but Eren yelled at him.

"Don't touch me! Go away!" The oddity hesitantly stood up and left. Eren cried until he couldn't, collapsing on a pile of animal furs. He cried himself to sleep, unable to do anything else. In the morning his stomach growled. Eren used the food producer to make some rice pudding. He ate it quickly and hid the food producer away. He checked to make sure no one was around before picking up the communicator and calling home base. 

"Hey, Mike, what's up? You don't normally call this early."

"I'm not Mike," Eren whispered. There was a tense silence and the voice spoke up.

"Eren, right? What happened? Where's Mike?" Eren began to cry again. The voice was more gentle when they spoke up. 

"Eren?"

"They're all dead. The natives killed them after taking me out. I'm the only one who survived." There was a silence.

"Eren, where are you?" Tears dripped down Eren's cheeks again. 

"I don't know."

"Can you get out?"

"No. I'm tied down and I can't escape. I think I'm in their village but if you're going to show up, you can't send anyone who might look like them." The voice on the other end digested that information for a moment. 

"Alright Eren, was there any clear figure of authority when you were taken? If so, we can probably figure out the best way to negotiate with them if we know who they are." Eren was shaking his head even before they stopped talking. 

"They're lead by an oddity." There was a gasp and he could hear the soft murmurs. 

"Eren, call us back when you know more. Until we know what they want, we can't remove you from them." Eren nearly sobbed right then and there. He just wanted to go home!

"Alright. I'll try not to get killed until then," he whispered. 

"Be safe," the voice said before it hung up. Eren hid the communicator under the furs and sat, wondering what he should do. It was still dark out, he knew that much. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, he heard the sound of soft crackling nearby. Someone had lit a fire, that was obvious from the light. Eren sat in the half light until he heard voices. He focused in on them, the translator filling in what was said. 

"Good morning!"

"Good morning, Petra."

"Morning, sir!"

"Good morning, Gunther." 

There was a moment of silence and then the woman's voice, Petra, returned. 

"Um, sir, what are you going to do with the boy?"

"Hm?"

"The one you brought from the fields."

"Oh. Him." There was a sigh. "Nothing for now. Not until he's calmed down enough."

"Sir, why did you bring him back? He could be a demon like all the others."

"He didn't look like anyone I recognize so I assume he wasn't one. He was probably afraid because he thought he would be killed later."

"Then why was he saying that the demons meant no harm?" 

There was another silence and then a sigh and the sound of someone getting up.

"Just, drop it Petra. It doesn't matter and I don't want to discuss it. Okay?" 

"Yes sir." 

"I'm going to check on him." Eren waited and sure enough, the flap of the tent opened to reveal the oddity. A girl with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair followed. The oddity sat down across from him and the girl sat closer. 

"Hey...have you calmed down now?" she asked soothingly. He pulled away before she could touch him, not trusting her.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded. The woman sighed. 

"I don't know. _He's_ the one who brought you here and he's not saying. I'm sorry but I don't know." Eren nodded. He'd been hoping that maybe the man would spill why he brought him but it didn't surprise him that he wasn't going to. The girl smiled at him.

"My name's Petra! Petra Ral. What's your name?" He stared at her until she began to fidget awkwardly before sighing and giving his name. 

"Eren. My name is Eren Jaeger." She smiled at him, clearly delighted to have gotten a name from him. 

"That's a nice name, Er-"

"That's enough, Petra. Leave us be." Petra frowned before heading out of the tent, leaving Eren with the oddity. Eren stared at him and he stared back in silence. Finally Eren had enough.

"What do you want?" The man sighed. 

"Do you hate me? You sound like you at least resent me." Eren glared at him.

"If you planned on killing all my friends, the least you could've done was cover my eyes. I'd never seen a person die before and you made me watch, unable to help as my friends were mercilessly slaughtered. So resent is a weak word. I _despise_ you," Eren spat. The man sighed. 

"Well that's a shame since you're going to be seeing a lot of me." Eren clicked his tongue in annoyance and stared at his captor. 

"If I'm going to be stuck with you, could I at least get the name of my warden?" Levi tilted his head, suspicion in his eyes making it clear he didn't understand or like the word warden or how Eren had used it. 

"Levi Ackerman. Nice to meet you, Eren." Eren smiled pleasantly. He needed to get this guy to trust him. He needed this guy to lower his guard so Eren could escape. All he had to do was play nice. 

Alas, Eren Jaeger had always had a hard time playing nicely with people he disliked. 

"Nice to meet you too, Levi. Now go suck a dick."


	2. Introductions in a Tent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets to meet new people but he still isn't allowed out of the tent.

Levi's eyes widened at the comment and Eren clapped a hand to his mouth.

_Dammit!! Why do I always open my mouth?? Forget putting your foot in your mouth, I think I may have just kicked myself in the mouth!_

Levi stood and Eren flinched, pulling away. Levi watched him for a moment before he exited the tent. Eren breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Why do I always say the worst things at the worst possible times??" he groaned to himself. He sighed. "Well, it's not my fault he decided to kill my friends and drag me here."

Eren lay back and his stomach rumbled. He glanced down in surprise. That was unusual. He normally didn't need food after eating for about four hours. How long had he been awake before the others had woken up and Levi had come in?? He sighed and flopped back on the furs. He ran his fingers through them. 

They were soft and warm, smooth and silky. He could tell that they had been cleaned recently from the lack of blood or dust. He sat up and began to explore, wandering the confines of his new prison. He couldn't go close enough to the tent flap to open it and look out, probably courtesy of Levi, and he realized that the furs were on a raised wooden platform. He noted that none of them were even remotely near the edge where they could potentially touch the dirt. 

There was a small circle of stones in the center of the tent with a small depression in the center. He reached down and rubbed his fingers in it, lifting them up and sniffing. He could faintly smell charcoal so he assumed that when it got cold, a fire would be lit in here. He traced the fabric of the tent that he could reach. It felt like tanned animal skin, although he couldn't tell what kind. He stiffened as he heard voices coming closer. 

_Please let them pass, please let them pass._

He sighed in relief when they did. It allowed him to continue his investigation of his new living space. He noted that there was a small wooden bucket underneath the opposite wooden platform from his sleeping platform. He crouched down and pulled it out. It was empty but he got a faint, nasty smell. He quickly put it back, figuring it was the waste basket that he would use as a toilet. Eren decided to investigate the rope tying him down. He went over and tried to tug the spike from the ground but it was near impossible. He yanked on it in annoyance. 

The rope was strong and the stake was buried too deep in the ground for him to pull it out. Since he realized he couldn't pull it out, he decided to look more into the knots. He crouched down near the stake to investigate the knot tied to it. He tugged slightly but quickly realized that part of what he'd need to untie went into the hole in the wood so he gave up on that one. He sat down and studied the knot on this ankle. 

It was tight, but not painfully so. He had room to move but when he tried to slip it off his ankle, he found that it wouldn't come off. He ground his teeth and began struggling to untie the knot. The rope was rough and his fingers began to bleed on it but he ignored that. He was so focused on getting it off that he didn't hear the voices until someone came in. He froze and Levi and another stared at him. 

Eren jerked back, wincing as the rope tightened painfully on his leg. Levi darted over and checked the rope. Eren slapped his hands away, glaring at him. 

"Don't touch me," he hissed. Levi grabbed his hands and held them above his head. Eren bit his lip in frustration as Levi tested the knot. When Levi decided it was firm, he let go of Eren and backed off. Eren rubbed his wrists and glared at Levi. Levi watched him closely. 

"Why were you trying to do that?" he asked, voice low and dangerous. 

_Okay. He's clearly upset so I should probably not respond._ Eren thought.

"Obviously, because I don't like being tied up like a fucking _animal,_ " he spat. Almost immediately his face went blank and he tried not to show the fact that he was internally screaming at himself. 

_Why the hell did I say that?? What the fuck is wrong with me, god dammit!_

"He's a feisty one!" Eren's attention swiftly turned from Levi to the brunet who'd come with him. She had a hint of red in her hair and wore glasses. Or more like goggles if he really looked at them since they were strapped onto her head. Levi sighed at her comment. 

"Yeah. He told me to go suck a dick earlier." The newcomer's eyes widened and she howled with laughter. She clasped her hand on Eren's shoulder, ignoring his jolt at the sudden movement as she used him for support. She was doubled over laughing. She let go of his should and began to pound on his back. 

"Well done! Holy shit, I can't believe you had the guts to tell Levi that," she laughed, tears in her eyes. 

"I honestly wouldn't mind if it were a certain person's dick," Levi muttered. The woman only laughed harder at this. Eren studied her, concern growing the closer he looked. 

He'd never seen her. 

Not on the streets. Not in training. Not in the database. She was another oddity. That meant that there were not one but two oddities in this village and that spelled trouble for Eren. He didn't know these people or how they thought most often. He didn't know how to deal with them. Just like most people didn't know how to deal with him. 

"I'm sure you wouldn't," she laughed. She turned to Eren and smiled. "Hey there, I'm Hange. What's your name?"

"Eren..." He watched her as he answered. Her eyes brightened and gained a maniac gleam he answered. 

"So you do understand us! I wonder why none of the others could speak in our language but you can," she thought aloud. Eren looked away, pulling back from her. She noted is discomfort and frowned. She glanced at Levi. "Are you gonna untie him?"

Eren's eyes widened hopefully and he stared at Levi. Levi sighed. 

"I was considering it up until I found him trying to untie himself. After that, I decided that if I untied him he'd just try to run. So, no, I'm not going to untie him." Eren drooped, shoulders sagging. He looked down at the floor. He heard a soft clucking noise from Hange but ignored it. 

"That's not really nice, Levi. Can you really blame him? He just saw his friends murdered and then was dragged back to a village and tied up. I _know_ that you'd try to escape if you were in his shoes," she said. Levi glared at her. She stared right back at him and the tent flap opened again. This time a massive blonde man came in. He had cool blue eyes and huge freaking eyebrows. 

"Ah, there you are Levi. I heard you brought back one of the people from the glowing circle." As he said that, the man noticed Eren and his eyebrows furrowed. Eren stared in wonder. 

_It looks like he has a caterpillar on his face._

"Obviously. You've got two good eyes so use them," Levi answered. The man studied Eren but when he came close, Eren pulled back. The man stopped and waited before trying again. Eren glared dangerously at him. 

"Is he mute? He isn't saying anything." Levi sighed. 

"If he isn't saying anything, it's because he doesn't want to. Most likely because he's a brat and doesn't know what else to do." Eren's eye twitched and he was speaking before he thought. 

"Hange, please tell a certain raven haired asshole that he can take a stick and ram it up his ass. That would at least make it so he has a reason for his fucking attitude." Eren's eyes widened at what he said and he paled. He looked up as Hange began to laugh. The blonde man had raised his eyebrows. 

_It looks like they're trying to escape his face._

"Levi, I've got a message for you. A certain brown haired boy told me that you can take a stick and ram it up your ass so you have a reason to act like you have a stick up your ass," she said through her laughter. Eren paled further. 

"Alright Hange. Tell a certain brown haired brat that I don't want anymore attitude from him." Eren stiffened and glared at him. 

"And why the hell shouldn't I give you some attitude? You kidnapped me and killed my friends! If you were in my shoes, you think you'd be acting any different?" Eren exploded. Levi stalked forward and grabbed his face.

"Yes. I for one would know better than to insult the people keeping me alive. At least if you're going to insult us, do it in your weird, freaky tongue and with a smile so we can't understand you." Eren glared at him as he released him. Eren took out the translator and smiled pleasantly at Levi. 

"Go fuck yourself, you knuckle dragging, swamp twat. Your mother was a pig and your father was an ass. You deserve no kind of sympathy and should be put down so no one else has to suffer the punishment of looking apon your face. You're a selfish prick who cares only about himself and sating his own sexual desires. You spend your days laying around your house jacking off or having people you enslave suck you off. The only thing you're good at is lazing about and causing problems for other people. I hope you understand, because I could care less what you think of yourself." 

With that, he put the translator back in his ear to listen to their responses. It was silent as they stared at each other for a moment before Hange chuckled. 

"I think he took you up on your advice, Levi." The big blonde man fought a smirk as Levi clicked his tongue and sat on the opposite wooden platform. He glared at Eren. 

"What did you say?" he growled. Eren smiled sweetly at him, a skill he'd perfected when having to deal with Jean, the annoying pony of a roommate he'd had. 

"I said that you seemed so strong and brave. I wanted to thank you for rescuing me from those demons and bringing me here to your village. I complemented you on your muscled figure and smooth charm. I wished blessings from the divine apon you so you may live in contentment and happiness for the rest of your life, of course!" There was a pause and Eren's smile didn't falter in the slightest. Hange burst out laughing. 

"I've never heard or seen such perfect sarcasm before! Oh my god, Levi, I think he just beat you." Levi clicked his tongue and Eren smirked in satisfaction. 

_Round one? Eren._

The blonde giant crouched down in front of Eren who watched him suspiciously. He smiled at Eren pleasantly and held out a hand for Eren to shake. 

"My name is Erwin Smith. Nice to meet you. May I ask your name and preferably not get a sarcastic response?" Eren chuckled as he took the man's hand. 

"The name's Eren. And I only give sarcastic responses to those who've done something to deserve them so don't worry." Erwin chuckled. Then he frowned. 

"Eren, I apologize for Levi tying you up. He's simply concerned both for your safety and for that of the villagers. I hope you understand." Eren nodded. 

"I do but if I were released, I would leave your village immediately." Erwin nodded but a voice spoke up from behind him. 

"And you wouldn't send people to avenge the ones we killed?" Eren glared at Levi and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. 

"I'm not the one in charge of things but we generally leave people alone if they kill some of us. There's no benefit in risking more lives. But of course, you did kill a squad, or the majority of it, and that's never happened before so I honestly don't know." Levi nodded. 

"Like I thought, it's too much of a risk to let you go. Erwin, Hange, we have other things to do so let's go. Erwin and Hange nodded and left. Levi followed but paused by the door. "Stay put. If you try to escape, you'll lose dinner."

"You're not my mom, asshole," Eren spat back. Levi rolled his eyes and left. Eren sighed and put his head in his hands. 

_Well that went well._


	3. Waiting and Poking the Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren sits. Sits and waits.  
> And purposefully tries to get on Levi's nerves.  
> No big deal until he finds out that Levi is the villages strongest and most dangerous warrior.  
> But Eren can take this guy.  
> Right?

Eren lay on the furs. He rolled over. And then rolled again. Finally he sat up out of pure frustration. He glared down at the furs.

_There is no way to get comfortable on these things!!_

He sighed and decided to exercise by walking around the tent a few times. He paced back and forth before practicing some martial arts. His fists flashed forward, right, left, left, right. The leg that wasn't tied down also lashed out at the air occasionally. Eren sighed and sat down once he'd managed to work up a sweat. He flopped back onto the furs, ignoring the slight itch. 

"When am I going to get out of here?" he muttered. 

"Probably when I say so," Levi answered as he came in. Levi passed him a bowl of something. Eren stared and tried not to vomit. A green mush was what lay in the bowl. 

"Um, what is this?" Levi frowned. 

"It's vegetable soup." Eren jerked back in shock. 

"Vegetable soup??" he cried incredulously. He paused and thought about something.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked. Levi shook his head with a small frown.

"No, I figured it would be rude to eat before my guest." Eren raised an eyebrow at that as he pulled out the food producer. 

_He thinks of me as a guest, huh?_

"Here. This is the vegetable soup that I'm used to," he said. He passed Levi a bowl of it and Levi jolted in surprise as he took it.

"How?? You have no tools or vegetables, so how did you manage to make this??" Eren sighed and pushed the food producer forward. Levi stared at it in confusion. 

"This is what we call a food producer. It can produce any food that you so desire. It's what made my breakfast this morning. It's safe to eat and I promise it won't poison you." Levi nodded as he hesitantly lifted the bowl, frowning at it. 

_I don't know if **this** on the other hand, is or isn't poisonous._

Eren pulled out his scanner and scanned the bowl of 'vegetable soup'. It came up clean although it couldn't identify some of the ingredients. Eren hesitantly brought it to his lips and nearly choked on it. As it was, he forced himself to swallow and coughed. It was bland and bitter, more like medicine than soup. Levi sipped at the soup and quickly began to drink and eat it faster. Eren sighed as he looked longingly at the food producer. He internally groaned and quickly drank the soup. He felt his gag reflex kick in simply from the texture. It was kind of like soupy mashed potatoes. 

"This was delicious! It was like nothing I've ever tasted before," Levi said. Eren nodded. 

"I can definitely agree with the latter statement. If this is what you guys eat all the time, I don't know how you put up with it." He brought a hand to his mouth as he felt his stomach roll. He quickly grabbed the waste basket, just in time to vomit it all up. Levi stood, looking concerned as Eren retched his guts out into it. 

"Are you alright?" he asked, clearly not knowing what was going on or what to do. Eren glared at him between his hurling. 

"Yeah. Because people are supposed to vomit...green fluid..." he choked out between vomits. Soon he was dry heaving and his mouth burned. He shuddered and set it down. Levi was still watching him and he sighed. "How you guys eat that, I don't know. How do you make that??"

"We gather edible plants and mash them together to make a paste which we then boil in water for a few hours." Eren retched into the waste basket again, his stomach revolting at the mere idea of food made that way. Levi stepped forward but Eren shook his head. 

"I'm fine, my body just decided that it didn't agree with your diet. Which is odd since I can eat almost anything." Levi nodded and sat down. Eren turned to the food producer. He got some applesauce and apple cider. He quickly downed the apple cider, loving the flavor. It had always been a personal favorite of his. Applesauce was because he didn't know if he could handle solid food right after eating their 'vegetable soup'. 

"What is that?" Eren stared at Levi but Levi seemed genuinely curious. He sighed. 

"It's called applesauce. Think of it as a much better version of your vegetable poison but only made from one plant." Levi stared at him in confusion. 

"It's only made from one plant?" he asked, bewildered. Eren nodded and tapped the food producer again. A Gala apple appeared and Eren tossed it to him. Levi stared at it like it was poisonous. "It has such bright colors. Are you sure it's safe to eat?"

"Do you really think I'd give you poison?" Eren asked. Levi hesitantly bit into it. His eyes widened and he quickly devoured it. 

"That was delicious! I've never come across something so brightly colored that wasn't poisonous!" Eren stared at him in weary acceptance. These people were kind of sad, really. They couldn't make decent food, they didn't know what was edible, and they had no experience with real food. Eren sighed. 

"Hey, Levi. Do you mind letting me outside? At least to help prepare the food for dinner? It'll be good for me to get some sunlight and you can even tie me to someone else, just please let me out." Levi studied him suspiciously. 

"Wait here," he said. He rose and left quickly. Eren sighed and lay back on the bed. A few minutes later Levi came back with Petra. She smiled at him. 

"Hello again, Eren. I'm the person you're going to be tied to!" Eren sat up with a relieved sigh. 

"Thank fuck. I thought I'd be trapped in here like a princess in a tower. Except that instead of being guarded by a dragon, I was guarded by the knight supposed to rescue me." They frowned, clearly not understanding what he was going on about. He sighed and shook his head at them. 

"Let's just go already." Levi came forward and quickly tied a knot around Eren's wrist. He then tied it to Petra's wrist as well. Only once he was sure they were stuck together did he untie the knot from around Eren's leg. Eren sighed in relief and rubbed it. It had grown sore and there was chaffing where the rope had rubbed and burned against Eren's skin. 

"Alright. We should head out before someone gets me in trouble for not helping prepare the food," Petra said. Eren pocketed his scanner and stood. He followed her and Levi quickly left them alone. Petra led him to a long line of tables, covered in plants that were being sorted. "We'll be working over here."

Petra led him to a table that had no one else there and tied him to it. He frowned. 

"Do you work alone?" She nodded, proud. 

"I'm the one who's fastest and most efficient so they let me do the work alone." He nodded and pulled out his scanner. He checked the plants, quickly separating the ones that were poisonous. Petra watched in confusion. He then separated them into which ones were for flavoring and which were for side courses. He glanced at Petra.

"Do you happen to have a knife? A sharp rock? Anything that can cut, really?" He noted that she looked more and more suspicious the longer he talked. She pointed at the tents and spoke.

"Levi's still watching you. You aren't going to be going anywhere and this is the center of the village," she pointed out. Eren frowned. He had felt the gaze on his back but he'd purposefully ignored it. He sighed.

"I'm aware that he's there. I'm not asking so I can try to escape, I'm asking so I can prepare the food." She hesitantly handed him a knife. It was small and looked more like it was for peeling skins off of plants or animals but it would work. He quickly diced up the vegetables. He went over to the pot of simmering water and slid them in. He quickly added the herbs that he'd set aside. 

"Eren, you left some," Petra commented, pointing to the fruits. He nodded. 

"I did that intentionally. Do you have anyway to crush them and collect the juice?" She nodded again, staring at him like he was crazy. He went over and scanned the remaining plants. He knew there was one that he hadn't recognized that had been identified as a possible sugar. He pulled it out and began using a rough but clean stone to shave off tiny bits. Soon a small pile of replacement sugar was already growing when Petra arrived with the stones and a wooden bucket again. Eren smiled at her. 

"Can you shave this while I keep going with these?" She nodded and Eren scanned the remaining fruits. He decided that since he was going to have a richer kind of vegetable soup, he wanted a sweeter drink. He collected the sweetest ones and began squeezing them in the rocks to get the juice out. Soon the bucket was almost full. He frowned. It wasn't as much as he would've wanted for a whole village but it would have to do. Then he remembered he still had other fruits to work with. 

"Um, Petra, can you get another bucket?" She nodded and got up. He resumed grinding some sugar and finally had a pile about the size he wanted. He poured it into the first bucket and stirred until he could no longer see the grains of sugar. He continued grinding while waiting. Eventually, Petra returned and he juiced the other fruits. This drink would be spicier than the last one but he figured it would taste like spiced apple juice. At least, he was hoping it would. It should after he added the sugar anyway.

While he continued grinding the sugar, letting Petra do her own thing, he watched the other tables and shuddered as he watched them add everything together. So many of those plants could be poisonous and for others the flavors wouldn't match at all. He shuddered and decided that if he didn't manage to get any of what he had made, he would use the food producer instead. 

It continued to grow darker and soon tall torches were lit around the village. Other people began to show up and soon Eren felt his rope slacken. He glanced up just in time to see Levi wrap it around his wrist. Eren sighed internally but ignored him. Erwin and Hange appeared. 

"Something smells really good!" Hange exclaimed. Then she noticed Eren. "Eren?? What are you doing here??"

"I needed some sunlight and asked if I could help out with making food." Hange stared at him and laughed. 

"A man making food?? That's unheard of!" Eren frowned. He shrugged and decided to ignore her. There were cups but most of them were full of water. Eren got his glass and quickly filled it with the sweeter juice. Levi filled his glass from the other. People seemed shocked when they realized that there was another option besides water to drink. The buckets were quickly emptied but the more curious people. Eren filled the bowl he was given from his soup and sighed with relief when he saw that it had turned out the way it was supposed to. His soup was the first gone simply because people were curious to see what a demon had made. 

Eren decided to wait to eat until the others did. The others all seemed to be watching Levi, who sipped his drink. Other raised their drinks and there were cries of shock from those who'd taken the juice. Hange nudged him and Eren lifted his glass and drank from it too. Once Levi seemed certain that everyone had drunk some of their drink, he sipped the broth of his soup. He hummed his approval and soon people began to chat as they ate and drank. 

"What was that about?" Eren asked Hange. She smiled at him. 

"Levi's the strongest warrior so of course everyone waits for him. He gets to decide when we eat or not." Eren raised an eyebrow. He simply couldn't tell if Eren was like the chieftain or a warrior. Either way, he was dangerous and Eren wanted nothing to do with him. 

"I don't think I've ever eaten anything like this, what is it?" Erwin asked as he ate the soup. Petra laughed.

"Eren made it." Silence fell over the table and Eren looked down at his soup. 

"Why are you looking down Eren?" He glared at Levi.

"Because I'm an outsider and if there's one thing I hate, it's feeling like I don't belong," he hissed. Levi raised an eyebrow. 

"They're just shocked, that's all." Eren rolled his eyes. Did Levi seriously think he didn't know? He wasn't a freaking idiot, he'd just figured that it would be pretty obvious since he was there to begin with. 

"Maybe they'd be less shocked if I hadn't been brought here as a sobbing mess and tossed over someones shoulder like a sack of potatoes." He spoke before he even realized what he was saying and cursed himself. Levi just raised an eyebrow. 

"Remember who let you out, Eren." Eren glared at him. 

"I think the more important thing to remember is the one who locked me up," he spat. Levi glared at him dangerously but Eren ignored him. Soft whispers echoed over the table. Eren quickly finished his soup and drink. He was satisfied with how they'd turned out. The broth had soaked up all the flavors from the vegetables and herbs while the drink was sweet and fruity. He set his bowl down and ignored Levi, who seemed to be taking his time. Eren noticed that the rope he was tied to wasn't tied to anything. Levi had simply put it under his leg. 

Eren began to slowly tug, sliding it out from under his leg. He doubted he could actually escape, but the goal was simply to feel like he wasn't tied down for a moment. Even just for a minute and he'd be happy. It was nearly out! He could feel it about to come loose.

"Eren." His eyes guiltily flicked up to Levi who was watching him. Eren glared at him. 

_Okay, Eren. It would be better if you don't do anything. Let him think he's won and you aren't trying to escape or anything._

"You can't escape." Those words sent a burning rage through Eren. He yanked on the rope and it came free. He glared at Levi defiantly. Levi sighed and glared at Eren. Eren was tossed over Levi's shoulder before he even knew what had happened. 

"Woah!" he yelped. Levi carried him back to the tent and tied him back to the stake. Eren glared at him. 

"I wasn't going to run. I can't navigate in the dark. There was no reason for this, I just wanted to not be tied down for a minute," he hissed. Levi sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and glared down at Eren. 

"Here's the thing, Eren. You aren't in charge of your fate and what happens to you. That's me. If I say something should happen, it happens. I don't care what you wanted or were trying to do. You defied me which means that you get to stay here for tomorrow. No breakfast or lunch." Eren glared at his retreating back. 

"Oh yeah, as if tying me up wasn't enough, add insult to injury by taking away my food!" he yelled after Levi. The flap covered the exit and Eren sighed, laying down. 

_God dammit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you guys feel about rebellious Eren? I like him when he gets frustrated with himself. He knows he shouldn't do something or sometimes he should do things, and then proceeds to do the exact opposite.


	4. Impatience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the tent and square one with it.

Eren sighed. It was late and the fires had been put out around the village. His stomach growled and he ignored it. He was going to show Levi that he didn't need anything from him. Eren put aside the food producer. 

_I'm going to starve myself if that's what it takes to get him to understand._

He glared at the constant temptation next to him. He quickly put his two food producers underneath the wooden platform and lay back. His eyes drifted and he snapped them open, only anger and determination keeping him awake. He pushed the furs away, onto the ground to make the siren song of sleep less prominent. The wood was smooth here and Eren sighed. 

_How can I keep myself awake?_

He wondered this until he noticed a semi-sharp rock on the ground. He picked it up and studied the edge. He rolled up his sleeves and looked at the marks on his arms. 

Most people got tattoos when they wanted to make their skin beautiful. Most people hid their scars. Not Eren. Eren had gone through a period where he suffered from severe depression. Instead of cutting his wrist, he'd begun to carve images onto his skin. He frowned at the rock and pulled out a food producer. He got a small cup of water and began grinding the rock on the cup. Soon it was sharp enough that he could cut easily. He got another cup of water and washed the rock so he wouldn't get infected. 

He breathed slowly and began to add more scars to the markings on his arms. Smooth vines and trees with flowers traced delicately up his arm. Soft clouds with gentle rain dripped blood onto those plants. These marks represented the sorrow he had to go through as an oddity. He carefully began to carve more, adding flowers and even animal faces peeking from behind trees and out of the canopy. Once he'd finished drawing on one side, he shifted to the other arm. 

On this side the trees were bending under the force of the storm clouds above. He drew a jagged lightning flash and winced. This was certainly a way to stay awake. He drew animals cowering under the roots of the trees that were drawn with such viciousness it seemed like they were about to fly off his skin. If the other side were his sorrows, this was his anger. His fury at what he was and how people treated him. His fury at being held captive by someone else. He drew an animal, a raven, being caught and trapped in the lashing branches of the tree. 

Eren was so intent on making the marks perfect that he didn't realize just how much time had passed as he carved. Or how much blood he'd lost. He put the rock down and shivered as he felt dizziness swim over him. He shook and forced himself to breath. He'd done this before. He only had one thought in his mind. 

_I have to finish the image._

So he kept carving his own skin, regardless of the blood loss. He was so out of it that he didn't even hear the gasp as the tent flap opened or see the sunlight stream in. All he heard were soft thudding noises and then someone ripped the stone away from him. 

"PETRA! GET HANGE!" a voice bellowed. Eren winced but ignored it. He reached forward and his fingers weakly latched onto the stone. A strong hand pushed him back and Eren growled in frustration, reaching for it again. "Eren, you can't do anything else. Seriously, were you trying to kill yourself?? You've lost too much blood."

Eren could hear the voice but he didn't recognize it. He didn't know who was talking or why they said he couldn't carve. He frowned, not understanding the words from how dizzy he was. He heard another gasp and felt someone grip his arms. He hissed out of pain. 

"Holy-! Did he try to kill himself??"

"I don't know. I just came in here and found him using this to slice his arms. They were covered in blood by the time I got here and I don't know how much blood he's lost. It looks like a lot though." He felt someone scoop him into their arms. His head lolled back, like a newborn. He felt someone shift him so his head was against someone's neck and was supported. 

"Levi, get him to my tent now. We need to bind those injuries before he bleeds any further." Soon he was moving. Eren groaned and buried his face in the neck when the sunlight hit him in the face. Normally Eren loved the sun. However right now it was glaring down at him, punishing him for this with it's harsh rays. People were talking around him and there was clear concern in their voices but Eren was so out of it that he couldn't hear what they were saying. 

"Stay with me, Eren. We're almost there. Stay awake." Eren frowned. Something in him responded to the voice with annoyance. He glared into the neck. 

"I'm not falling asleep," he slurred. He felt someone shift him so they could stroke his hair.

"That's good, Eren. Stay awake. Stay awake." The voice seemed to repeat the phrase a few more times. Or maybe that was in Eren's head since everything seemed to be echoing. The person carrying him set him down on a smooth stone. Eren groaned when he felt them touch his arms. 

"Levi, pass me the water bucket." He heard people moving and then felt cool water on his arm. Someone was washing his wounds. He hissed in pain and pulled away. Something in his mind said that this water could potentially be dangerous. He didn't know how many bacteria were in it or what they would do if they entered his body. He weakly pulled his scanner out of his pocket and pointed it towards his arm. He looked at the reading. 

The blood and water were both clean so he didn't have to worry. He sighed in relief and the scanner fell from his limp hands and he slumped. His vision was beginning to swim and darken. 

"Eren, I need you to focus, sweetie. Come on, talk to me. What's your name?" 

_What is this, a psyche evaluation?_

"Eren Jaeger..." he mumbled. 

"Good, very good. Can you tell me how old you are?" The voice was soft and sweet, like the hands gently rubbing his cuts. 

"I'm eighteen...born March thirtieth. My parents are Carla and Grisha Jaeger." 

"That's good, Eren. You're going to be okay, Eren. You've lost a lot of blood but the injuries don't seem deep. Alright? I'm going to bind your injuries now." Eren twitched.

"Wait...where's the scanner?" Someone pressed the familiar shape into his hand and Eren sighed in relief. He scanned the bandages that were held in front of him and relaxed. He set the scanner down and nodded. "Okay." 

They began to wrap his injuries. Eren didn't mind, they weren't wrapping them tightly. They weren't loose but they definitely weren't tight and that made him happy. The few other times he'd bled this much, Mikasa had always been too rough on the injuries. He sighed in relief when they finished. 

"Thanks, Mikasa." There was a pause. 

"Eren, who's Mikasa?" Eren frowned. Why was Mikasa asking who she was? He decided to play along with her game. 

"Mikasa is my adopted sister. She's the same age as me and had dark black hair. She always protective and ends up calling me whenever she can." His lips quirked up in a smile. He felt someone pet his hair and he slowly drifted off to sleep. When he woke, he was back in the tent on fresh furs and with the blood cleaned up. He sat up and hissed when he used his arms to support himself. He glared down at the bindings. Then the communicator began to ring. 

Eren quickly picked it up and answered in order to make sure no one else heard it and came looking for the source of the noise. He lifted it to his ear, wincing as the bandages rubbed on his arms. They weren't the soft ones he was used to. These ones seemed to be made out of some kind of plant and were rough on the skin.

"Hello?" he asked. 

"Eren, we just wanted to check up and make sure you're okay. Have you found anything out? Have they done anything?" Eren thought. 

"There are three oddities that I've seen here." There was a gasp from the other side. 

"Three??"

"Yeah. The black haired one that I told you about, a reddish brown haired girl with goggles, and a massive blonde guy with blue eyes and ginormous eyebrows." There were murmurs on the other side and Eren heard clicking. They were probably checking. 

"Alright Eren. Have you discovered any social classes or rituals that they do?" He thought back. 

"They seem to treat the head warrior as kind of a chieftain. They all wait for him to eat and drink before they do. They don't know how to cook anything good and it seems that women are on cooking duty while men do the hunting and heavy labor." There were more clicking noises. 

"Alright. Do you think you could convince them to let you go?" Eren sighed.

"They're afraid that we'll attack them if it happens. I told them you probably wouldn't but they're hesitant to trust what I say. Not to mention the dark haired oddity seems to have a completely different reason for keeping me here but he won't tell me what it is." There was a hum from the other side. 

"Just try to keep yourself alive. Help out the village where you can, get on their good side, and get them to trust you. Once that happens, we can get you the hell out of there." Eren smiled softly.

"Thanks. It'll be good to be home." There was a snort on the other side.

"You've got no idea. That sister of your? Mikasa? She keeps threatening the portal overseers to open one so she can go get you." Eren chuckled. 

"That sounds like her. Tell her that I'm alright and that her appearance may only make things more risky and dangerous. That should put a stop to it. She won't be happy but she'll at least calm down." There was a relieved sigh.

"Thanks, Eren. You have no idea how much of a pain in the ass she's been these past few days. As soon as she found out that your squad was killed and you were captured, she flew into a rage. We've had to physically restrain her twice now." Eren chuckled. 

"Yeah. I'll do my best to stay alive."

"We'll call you soon." With that they hung up and Eren hid it with his food producers. He futilely scratched at the itchy bandages. The flap rustled and Eren looked up. Levi saw him and seemed to relax, the ghost of a relieved smile flitting across his face. 

"You're awake." Eren nodded. 

"How long was I out?" Levi sighed as he placed a bowl in front of Eren. Eren was relieved to see some kind of bread in it that was steaming. He picked it up and was delighted to find there was meat in it. Even if the meat was bland and tasteless, it was still meat.

"You've been out for almost a day. You scared the hell out of me when I came in here and found you dripping blood and cutting your arms to pieces." He glared at Levi in annoyance. 

"I wasn't that bad." Levi raised an eyebrow. Then he sighed. 

"Why didn't you try to run? You had a sharp object. You could've cut yourself free. Why cut your own body instead of the rope?" Eren sighed. 

"I can't navigate in the dark. I have no clue how to get through the village and back to where you took me from. Hell, I don't even know where you took me from. You really think I could've escaped? I'm not an idiot." Levi glared at him.

"So you decided to cut yourself instead?" he hissed. Eren glared at him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"My friends don't call me a suicidal bastard for nothing. It was pride, okay? I was pissed at you because you decided to tie me up and said you wouldn't bring me any food. So in a fit of inspiration, I decided that I would also go without sleep just to spite you. However, I can't really stay awake very often so I ended up using the rock to cut myself. Pain always keeps me awake and focused." Levi stood upright, furious.

"You cut yourself until you were collapsing from blood loss, to _spite_ me? Are you serious? You could've died!" Eren glared at him. 

"Yeah well, I'm not exactly normal and what else could I do? I don't know how to go home and I sure as hell don't know why you brought me here!" he snarled back. Levi sighed and sat back down, clearly defeated. Finally he looked directly at Eren.

"You want to know the reason I brought you here so badly? Fine. I want to court you, Eren."


	5. Um, Did I Just Hear That Correctly?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren needs confirmation on what he heard and now we find out the true reason Levi separated him from the group. Y'know, right before brutally massacring them.

Eren stared at him in confusion. 

"Wait, did I just hear that correctly?" he asked. Levi sighed and stared at him.

"Why don't you repeat it back so I can make sure you understood." Eren stared at him suspiciously before talking. 

"You just said that you wanted to court me. As in, romantically?" Eren repeated, feeling very much like one of the fast food workers who repeated his order to him. The only difference was that they always managed to get it wrong. 

"Well congrats, Eren. Your ears work properly and you can parrot peoples words back at them. Well done." Eren glared at him for a moment before growling dangerously at him. 

"I didn't ask for you to decide you miraculously wanted to date me! Sorry for being a tad more than confused. At this point I am questioning my sanity because from how you've acted? There's no fucking way that you feel that way." Levi sighed and stared at him. 

"It's been a couple of years since I became the head warrior. Normally we take a partner as soon as we become the head warrior, so I've obviously gone over that limit." Eren glared at him. 

"So how does this relate to me? I care nothing for your culture or what you're supposed to do as long as it doesn't affect me in any way." Levi sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He glared at Eren as if Eren were the idiot for not understand what he was saying. Eren glared right back at him, not wanting to give in, especially since he had no clue what the hell Levi was talking about. 

"I'm not interested in anyone from the village. I've known them too long to be interested in them that way even thought there are plenty who I _know_ are interested in me. I honestly never thought I'd find someone I was interested in." Eren watched him. 

"Again, how does this pertain to me?" Levi sighed and continued talking. 

"A few weeks ago, there was a premonition from our primary god, the god of life and fertility-"

"Does this fertility apply to land, animals, humans, or all of the above?" Eren asked sarcastically. Levi growled softly before continuing. 

"Anyway, the premonition foretold that there would be demons arriving. They would arrive in a glowing circle and would speak in a foreign tongue. Sound familiar? Ring any bells, oh master of sarcasm?" Eren ignored Levi's jab, although he had to admit it sounded suspiciously accurate. Although for all he knew, Levi was making it up. He waved his hand, signalling that Levi should continue.

"The premonition also claimed that a person who could match with the head warrior as a partner was coming with them. The premonition didn't say _how_ we would know who it was, just that we would. So, sure enough, a big glowing circle appears and people come through it. _You_ come through it. Is it really so odd to think that I want to court you, Eren?" Eren stared at him. So he believed that his god had told him that Eren and his group would be coming and they were dangerous. Then this so called god decided to tack onto the end, 'Oh yeah, Levi, there may be a wife in there for you. Yeah, it's not a big deal but y'know, don't do anything to freak them out.'

"So you decided the best way to deal with this was to separate me from the group and then slaughter everyone else?" Eren asked. Levi looked away sheepishly. 

"I honestly thought they had captured you by force and were making you do odd things for them. Even your clothes were different!" Eren sighed, leaning back and putting a hand over his eyes. 

"First of all, what sort of _odd_ things did you think they were making me do? Second of all, my clothes were different than theirs because I was new to this. I'd never traveled before and they needed a clear way to show how experienced everyone was. My clothes display my rank as a beginner and theirs were that of more experienced travelers." He watched Levi as he explained this. Levi frowned.

"So...clothing explains...rank?" Eren nodded. 

"Yeah, that's probably the closest way to explain it. You still didn't answer my first question though." Levi glared at the ground to his side. Eren watched, suspicion raising as Levi continued to refuse to speak. Finally Levi sighed. 

"I thought they had compromised the chastity of my potential bride, alright?" Eren froze and then dissolved into laughter. He shook with it, rolling on the furs as he grasped his sides. 

"You thought! Oh gods, that's hilarious! I can't believe you-ha!" Eren couldn't form a complete sentence from how far gone he was. He snickered as the laughter stopped slowly. Levi watched him with a frown. Eren chuckled and raised his arm, displaying the white fabric. "Do you see a golden band anywhere on this?"

"No," Levi said, clearly not understanding. Eren chuckled. 

"If you have a gold band on the arm or sleeve, it means you're married. The higher up you go, the older the marriage. Just as an FYI, every other member in the group had a golden band." Levi frowned. 

"What is an 'FYI'?" he asked. Eren chuckled.

"It's an abbreviation for 'for your information'." Levi nodded then sighed. 

"I apologize. I know I acted rashly however, none of us were willing to trust these so called demons. You should be glad that I kept you in here most of the time because there are plenty of people who would happily slice your throat." Eren nodded knowingly.

"So your creepy stalking of me isn't just because you want to stare at my ass," he teased. Levi nodded. 

"It's for your own safety, although it does come with the highly motivating factor of being able to stare at your ass." Eren raised and eyebrow at that and Levi smirked smugly. 

_That's a challenge right there. That's him saying "I can play this game too". Well, bring it on, Levi. You think you can win? Good luck._

"Well I'm glad you enjoy it so much. I just wish I didn't have to see your hard on every time I glance over at you." Levi raised an eyebrow. 

"I know for a fact that I don't get 'hard ons' as you put them. I am very good at controlling my dick. Though something tells me I'll be just as good when it comes to controlling _your_ dick." It was Eren's turn to raise an eyebrow now. He straightened his back. 

"Oh, is that so? Or are you sure you won't lose control to me? If you think I'm an easy fuck, I make it hard for my partners to stop, if you get what I'm saying." Levi chuckled at that.

"Drop the act, we both know you're a virgin. You practically reek of innocence." Eren smirked at him and slowly licked his lips. He noted with satisfaction that Levi swallowed at the movement. 

"Are you _sure_ about that?" Eren purred, lowering his eyelashes seductively. Levi nodded although Eren noted that it was more hesitant than previous times. Eren chuckled. He noted another part of Levi that had responded. "Well, well, well. Looks like you _aren't_ as good at controlling your dick as you said you were. Such a shame since it seems so interested in me."

Levi looked down and his eyes widened. He shifted so the pelt he wore around his waist covered the growing erection. Eren snickered at his reaction and Levi glared at him, although Eren noticed his ear tips turning red. 

_Round two? Eren. Two points Eren, no points Levi._

"LEVI!" Levi glared out of the tent. Eren could hear footsteps coming closer and he recognized the voice. It seemed that Hange was approaching. She flung open the tent flap. 

"There you are! What did I tell you about staying in here?" Then she noticed that Eren was awake. "EREN! YOU'RE AWAKE!"

Eren winced and cringed away from her loud tone. She quickly grabbed his arms and began to unbind them. 

"We should check your injuries, just to make sure they aren't infected and are healing properly. Does anything else hurt?" Eren smirked at Levi as he answered. 

"For me? Not really, although I think Levi's pride has taken a bit of a beating." Hange glanced at Levi in surprise but Levi looked away. Hange chuckled and patted Eren's shoulder. 

"Keep up the good work. I've never seen him act this way and it's _very_ amusing," she murmured. He winced slightly as he felt the bandages tug at dried blood. However, they came off without much of a struggle. There was a hiss from Hange and Levi gasped at the sight of his right arm. 

"Eren...what is that?" Levi murmured, coming closer to study his arm. The marks were fully on display. The animals, the trees, the vines, the clouds. Eren studied it, noting with satisfaction that the marks were healing well and weren't too bad. They at least fit in on his skin. Levi reached out and touched it, tracing the delicate scars. His fingers were feather light and Eren appreciated that. The newer carvings were harder to distinguish from the older ones and the new ones were still pretty sensitive. 

"Just something I do. This was the reason you found me bleeding, although I definitely didn't do all of this in one night." Hange traced her fingers over one of the trees. 

"It's so intricate. It almost looks like it could come off your skin," she murmured. Eren chuckled. 

"They wont, so don't worry about that. They're more just there because I felt like putting them there than anything else." The two ignored him in favor of studying the marks while Hange unwrapped his other arm. When Hange finally tore her eyes away from his scars to check the other cuts, she gasped. Levi turned to see what had caught her attention and his eyes widened at the sight. Hange ran cool fingers over the cuts and Eren just sat there. The newer scars were less than what he generally preferred, although on his left arm they didn't stick out at all. He rarely started on that arm so by the time he did, he was often dripping blood already. 

Levi's fingers came out and brushed the raven that Eren had carved, trapped in the tree branches. Hange shivered as she looked at them. Eren just watched them, not knowing what else to do. No one had ever seen his scars before. Of course he was nervous. Not even Mikasa or Armin knew about this and yet here were these two oddities staring at them like they were the most beautiful things they'd ever seen. 

"Um, are they alright? I don't feel any pain from them, so I assume yes, but you are the doctor after all." Hange's eyes snapped to him. She pulled both his arms in front of his face. 

"How long have you been doing this?" She whispered. Eren sighed. 

"Do you mean how long have I been cutting myself? I've been doing it since I was about thirteen." Levi traced the images. 

"They're so small. So delicate and yet they're so realistic." Eren nodded. Somehow hearing them talk about his scars like they were something beautiful was...incredible. He'd always thought his scars were just another part of himself that he should be ashamed of. Ashamed of his weakness for turning to carving his own flesh. Where he was from, it'd be viewed as the acts of someone not quite mentally stable. Hange traced them again before letting go of his hands. 

"There's no infection and they look clean. You should be safe although tell me if they feel funny or you open them again. I don't want to risk you getting sick." Eren nodded and Hange left. Levi was still tracing the raven. 

"How long are you going to keep doing that?" Eren asked. Levi looked up and then back at the carvings. 

"There's such beautiful sadness on your right arm...and such blazing anger on your left...why?" Eren sighed and leaned back, forgetting to tell Levi to let him go. He ignored the delicate touches and thought. 

"The right is for my sorrows. There are things that I hate about myself and things that bring me sorrow. So I cut myself to put those sorrows into a physical form. But after I carve them, I end up being pissed with myself. Pissed that I'm so weak I'd cut myself. Furious that I can't kill myself through cutting like a normal person. Angry because I carved those marks into my own skin, right where everyone can see them. It helps me relieve stress and grief." He shrugged after talking. He noticed Levi's odd fascination with the raven carving. Levi's steel gray eyes flashed up to meet his. 

"This raven. Who does it represent?" Eren snorted, trying to mask his fear. 

_Does he know??_

"What makes you assume it represents a person?" Levi sighed. 

"Eren, I know I'm a stranger. I know I'm not the type of person you'd like to trust. But we are going to be with each other for a long time. Please, if you hate me, tell me now. I know that I don't hate you Eren, and even if you say you hate me, I'm not going to." Eren sighed and hung his head. 

"It's weird, you know? My life was so exciting at first. I _wanted_ something like this. I _wanted_ to go on an adventure. And then I did. But once I entered, it wasn't as fun as I'd always thought. Normally people are curious about us. They want to find out why we are the way we are. Yet when I set foot in the adventure, I quickly discovered that it was not all it had cracked up to be. My squad and friends were murdered, I was captured, and then I was tied up." Eren ran a hand through his hair, glad he could finally rant. "I guess it could've been worse. I could've been offered as a human sacrifice, although I suppose that in your case I wouldn't have been human. I probably would've been seen more as a tribute, a prize unto the gods giving thanks for allowing you to be victorious over the demons."

"We wouldn't do that, Eren." Eren glared at him. 

"How am I supposed to know that? How am I supposed to trust that? All you've done is kill the people I care about and take away my freedom. You think I'll just accept you?" Eren began to cry, tears dripping down his cheeks. Levi leaned forward and wiped away Eren's tears. 

Eren was too tired to push him away. 

He was so tired of resisting this person, of pushing them away. 

He was so tired of being tied up and restrained. 

He was so tired of being alone and scared and not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do.

He cried harder and only made himself more tired. His scars itched and he wished he had a sharp object to carve more into himself. Even the tiny scars that represented rain brought him some semblance of relief. The firm but gentle hand wiping his tears tilted his head up. Eren looked up. Levi leaned in closer, eyes never leaving Erens. 

And then he kissed him.

Levi's lips were soft and gentle, pressing against his sweetly. Eren began to blink in shock, surprise chasing away the sorrow. After a few moments, once he'd stopped crying, Levi pulled away. 

"I know I'm not the person you love most right now. But I promise you, if you let me court you, I'll do everything in my power to make you fall for me," Levi promised. He pulled Eren closer, holding him to his chest. "So please, Eren. Please let me court you. I won't touch you unless you say I can, but I want to at least try to gain your affection." Eren choked a laugh. 

"Why would you want the affections of me? I'm broken and bloody. Who would want that?" Levi cupped Eren's face in his hands and looked him in the eyes. 

"I would. Because those scars represent fears and turmoil you've gone through. They prove how strong you are and how much you've suffered. I love you because of your blood. Because of how broken you are. Didn't you know that all humans are broken in half? The gods made it that way so we may each connect with each other. So that our broken and bloody edges can find the perfect spot to fit." Levi paused, moving his hands down to clasp Eren's. "I feel like I could be that special person for you, Eren. I know I'm cold and harsh and I'm not very pleasant to be around, but I honestly think we could be together happily. So please, give me your answer."

Eren stared at him. The raven who'd taken away his freedom. The raven who kept him tied up. The person who'd killed all his friends. And hesitantly, ever so hesitantly, Eren responded. 

"Alright. I'll accept your offer of courting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit, he said yes! Where will this go now?


	6. And so begins the awkward flirting stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the title says.

When Eren woke up, he was confused. 

_What the hell is this??_

Furs and carefully woven blankets were draped around him. He was practically cocooned in the nest of them. All the sudden the communicator rang. Eren scooped it up and raised it to his ear. 

"Eren, are you alright?"

"I'm fine...probably." He immediately regretted saying the end of that phrase. Now they'd probably assume things weren't going well. 

"Probably? What do you mean by that? Are they going to hurt you? Will you be safe?" He internally sighed, knowing they were just concerned about him. So he decided to try and throw them off track with a little more info. 

_The real question is what to tell them._

"Eren?"

"I found out why they actually separated me from the group," he blurted. 

_Fuck!! Why did I have to say that, I could've said ANYTHING but that and been fine!_

"Really? What is it?" Eren braced himself, knowing he'd have to tell them. He'd only dug his grave further. 

"So apparently they received a warning? Anyway, it was from one of their gods. Apparently it said that there would be demons arriving through a glowing circle..." He trailed off, not wanting to reveal the last bit. 

"And?" The voice asked. Eren sighed. 

"And apparently there would be a potential bride for the head warrior in the village." There was a slight pause. 

"Eren. Do they think that _you're_ the bride?" Eren sighed.

"Yeah. I only made it worse with what I said yesterday." He could almost hear the raised eyebrow on the other side. So he decided to tell them before they asked. "I agreed to let him court me."

"Eren! What were you thinking??" Eren winced and held the communicator away from his ear. He pulled it back and hesitantly listened. 

"Mikasa?" he asked nervously. The voice bellowed in his ear. 

"Who the hell did you think it was??? How could you agree to let any other person try to date you? I'll come over there and kill them right now!" He heard the sound of a struggle and people yelling 'no'. Eren sighed and spoke. 

"Mikasa, that could potentially be dangerous. I don't recommend doing that. I don't want you to die, so please don't come here." Eren was so busy trying to distract and calm his frantic sister that he didn't hear the tent flap open. Or the soft footsteps coming towards him. 

The only thing he noticed was when the communicator was taken out of his hand. 

He whirled, horrified. Levi was staring at his communicator. He held it up to his ear, listening to the soft voices desperately calling his name. Pleading for him to respond. Levi's eyes fell on Eren who cringed back. Eren swallowed nervously. Levi had a dangerous look in his eyes. They practically glowed and he pulled back, pleading with his eyes for Levi to say nothing. 

"Who is this? How is this possible?" Levi asked. The voices went silent. Levi nudged Eren who gasped slightly. "I asked you a question, Eren. Don't make me angry."

"Don't you _DARE_ threaten my brother!!" Mikasa roared over the communicator. Eren twitched as Levi looked back at the communicator in his grasp. His eyes were deadly and he glared back at Eren. 

"This is your sibling?" he asked. Eren looked away. 

"Not...not quite." Levi's eyes narrowed further.

"Explain, Eren." Eren sighed. 

"Is it okay if I tell him?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard by the others. There was a moment of pause and then a sigh. 

"Yes, Eren. You have permission to explain what it is. You should already know that you are allowed to do anything if you feel you are physically threatened and your life may be in danger." Levi twitched at that. He glared at it.

"I would never hurt him," he snarled. The voice sighed. 

"And how do we know that? Apparently you are the one in charge of the mass murder of an entire squad." Levi's eyes flicked back to Eren, who cringed into the blankets. Levi sighed. The voice continued. "However, Eren told us you feared we were demons. We aren't although you aren't the first to think so."

"Thank you. Now then, Eren, do you mind telling me?" Eren sighed. 

"It's a communicator. It's a way for me to communicate back to my home and the people I care about. I don't think I could handle being alone without any familiar faces this long if I hadn't had contact with them. Please let me keep it, Levi. I don't want to lose my only connection home," Eren pleaded. Levi looked at him and sighed. He leaned down and Eren jumped a little when Levi kissed his forehead. 

"I'll let you keep it, but you're going to have to let me know before you want to use it." Eren nodded. 

"You asshole! You don't get to tell my brother he has to rely on you for everything! What do you think you are, his god?" Levi growled softly into the communicator. Eren lay down, curling one of the blankets around him.

"Don't talk to me like that. I care about Eren and I don't intend to hurt him. Now then, if you're finished, I'm going to go." He turned to Eren. "How do I turn this off?"

Eren quickly off the communicator. He glanced around and realized that Levi had brought in a basket of fruits. He tilted his head before grabbing his scanner and checking out the fruits. None of them seemed poisonous according to the scans so Eren sat down. 

"I take it that you...did all of this for me?" Eren asked. Levi smiled and kissed his cheek. 

"Of course I did. I _am_ courting you after all," he said with an almost gentle smile. Eren smiled at him and Levi curled up behind him. Levi held a large, pear looking fruit in front of Eren's lips. Eren twisted to look at him. Eren sighed and hesitantly took a bite of the fruit. It was sweet, a lot more so than he'd originally thought. He quickly took it and began to wolf it down, eagerly devouring the food. Levi chuckled. Eren felt Levi's arms hesitantly wrap around his waist but he chose to ignore it, knowing perfectly well that Levi was just expressing himself. 

All the sudden, the tent flap shot open. 

"THERE you are, Levi! You're supposed to be getting ready for a hunt today, what are you still doing here?" Levi clicked his tongue, glaring at the newcomer. 

"I just wanted to spend some time with the person I'm courting before possibly going out there for days and potentially dying." Eren flinched at that realization. 

"You aren't going to die, are you?" he asked. Levi kissed his forehead and nuzzled his cheek. 

"I won't die. I've also made sure that if I do, in the odd event, you'll be taken back to where you were found." Eren softly, hesitantly nuzzled back, just slightly before pulling away. 

"Well...be careful." Levi nodded before leaving. Hange looked between them, shocked. 

"I've never seen Levi actually open up to anyone as quickly as he has to you. Seriously! That guy has a demon face for everyone else and simply doesn't care about anyone but himself in a private setting!" Eren smiled at Hange. 

"Hey, Hange, what happens if I...if I don't end up accepting him after this whole courting period ends." Hange frowned. 

"I honestly don't think it'll stop until you say yes." Eren stared at her in shock. 

"Are you serious?" She nodded. 

"You seem to think that our courting period takes a certain period of time and after that time, that's it. No go. However, as long as one person harbors feelings of love towards another, they can continue to court that person until that person either chooses another or accepts them. Since I doubt anyone else will court you, I'd recommend going for Levi." With that, Hange walked out. Eren sighed when he realized that Levi had taken the communicator with him. 

_It's going to be a long day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's shorter than normal, but hopefully I'll write more tomorrow. Or just whenever. I don't know.


	7. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now begins the strenuous process of waiting. Something Eren Jaeger has never been good at.

Eren sighed as he flopped back against the furs. He'd been left with fruits and vegetables that seemed edible, but he was cautious about how they'd react to his body. He glared up at the cloth above him. 

_Stupid Levi. Leaving without telling me, what the hell is wrong with that guy??_

Eren sighed and sat up, glaring at the rope around his ankle. If it weren't for that thing, he'd be out of here by now. He sighed and lay back. He glanced over and noticed the fruits were still there. He popped a dark brown one into his mouth and promptly spit it out. He glared at it. It was bitter and more sour than a lemon. He sighed and stared at the other plants. He quickly separated the dark brown berries from the rest. Then he divided the remaining fruits into groups. 

A pile of long, dark green, pea pod like vegetables. 

A small stack of dark black berries that looked almost like cherries. 

A group of dark red beans.

And finally the group of brown berries. 

Eren frowned at the assortment. He'd kind of been hoping for something a little more familiar. He decided to try the peas first since they were almost like what he was familiar with, just darker in color. He bit into it and was shocked. The inside burst in his mouth, sweet and juicy, while the outside provided a rich crunch. He wolfed down the one he'd bit into. He glanced at the rest of the pile before shaking his head.

_I don't know when Levi will be back and I don't know if anyone else will bring me food. Oh well, this is why I have a food producer._

He reached out a picked up a black cherry. He nibbled on it and his eyes widened in surprise. It tasted citrusy, like an orange or a grapefruit. He nibbled on it further until he reached the seed. He studied it. The fruit really was like a cherry in appearance although it differed greatly in flavor. He set the seed aside, wondering if he would be able to plant it. 

Finally he reached for the dark red beans. He scanned it quickly, just to make sure it was safe. It came up green and he hesitantly ate one. He frowned at the odd flavor. It was kind of like...deer sausage. Like it was actually cooked meat but that was impossible. He pulled out one of the food producers and pulled out a hidden slide. This would allow the food producer to analyze the substance put into it as a food and produce it when told. He waited until all three of them had gone through before staring at the brown berries. 

_Maybe if I treat them like War Heads, it'll be fine?_

He sighed and cautiously bit into one. His eyes watered and he winced as he chewed it. All the sudden the flap opened and Hange appeared. She saw what he was eating and laughed. 

"Sweetie, you don't have to eat those. Those are normally eaten by people who want to prove their strength. It's alright if you want to spit it out," she chuckled. Immediately Eren spat it out. 

"I was wondering why people would eat things like that," he muttered. Hange laughed. 

"I think that Levi's the only one who actually like them. Don't worry, most people won't be upset if you can't eat them. I'll admit that it might be a good skill to be able to eat them, but you really don't have to." Eren nodded. She noticed how the plate was still pretty full and gave him a questioning look. Eren looked at the floor sheepishly. 

"I didn't know if anyone would bring me food or if that was all I got for however long Levi would be gone." Hange's eyes widened. She sighed. 

"Eren, we aren't barbarians. Not to mention, our head warrior is courting you. Do you know how much of an insult it would appear to him if we didn't feed you? It wouldn't matter if you were eating us out of house and home. As long as you were fed, he wouldn't care." Eren nodded, sighing with relief. Then he remembered that they made disgusting mashed vegetables. He shuddered. 

"Do you mind if I help prepare dinner? Please?" he asked. Hange raised an eyebrow but grinned. 

"Actually, yeah! I came here to invite you anyway since I figured you'd be going stir crazy right about now. After all, there's literally nothing for you to do. It'll be great, don't worry!" She untied his ankle after tying him to her. They had a lot of leeway on the rope so they wouldn't interfere with each other's work. They arrived at the tables again but this time they were first. Eren noticed the women and children watching him but he ignored them. 

He pulled out his scanner and quickly identified which plants were poisonous and which weren't. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that others were following what he was doing. For a second he wondered why but then decided it wasn't worth asking. He went to work quickly, making a rich stew. This time they even had some meat to work with. Eren took some of the herbs gathered and began to season the food. Hange frowned at him. 

"What are you doing?" He paused and then nodded. 

"Right, sorry. This is something we do where I'm from. We make a side stew and have a main course of meat. Although, I suppose you don't have the materials to actually cook on." With that, Eren stopped seasoning it and after thoroughly tenderizing the meat, he cut it up and slipped it into the simmering stew pot. Hange frowned. 

"Why do that?" Eren smiled. 

"Putting the meat in the stew allows it to soak up all the flavors of the vegetables and herbs in the stew. Admittedly, I don't know much about what you guys can or can't make, but the basic principles are the same." Hange nodded, watching as he made the drinks for the night. Soon he noticed that he had attracted a small crowd, mostly of children. They would watch what he did and then run to their mothers to tell them what he did. He noticed that a lot of the women followed what he was doing through their children. He smiled. 

_Maybe I can teach them how to properly cook._

"Hey, Hange? Were their any leftovers from the last meal?" he asked. Hange shook her head with a small chuckled. 

"We never have leftovers. We eat everything because we have no way to store food." Eren frowned but nodded. At dinner, people seemed to be enjoying themselves more with better food and drinks. It shocked him to think that they hadn't ever tried to experiment with food. Then again, he also had to take into consideration that there might not be _enough_ food to do that. 

"Eren?"

"What is it, Hange?" he asked, snapping out of his daze. Hange smiled at him. 

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me and the other women and children to gather food tomorrow." Eren's eyes brightened at the thought of being able to actually explore and see what the wildlife was like. 

"Sure!" he said eagerly. Hange laughed and drank more. When Eren went to bed, he was tired. Apparently the kids had thought it would be fun to drag him into a dance around the fire. Eren wasn't bad at dancing, no, it was the fact that they had literally dragged him there. The kids were stronger than they looked. Eren yawned, eager to get to sleep. He woke to the tent flap being thrown aside and someone landing on him. 

"Wakey, wakey, Eren!" Hange practically screamed in his ear. Eren rolled over in the furs and glared daggers at her. She laughed and tied a thin cord around his wrist. She then untied his ankle. 

"What are you doing, Hange?" he grumbled. Hange snickered. 

"Oh, sorry, do you not want to go gathering today?" Eren was scrambling to get up after that. Hange snickered at him as they left, Eren's head still a birds nest. The kids stared at his hair in confusion for a moment before shrugging. Eren was led into the forest. He could pick out animal trails and the sound of water but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He noticed that the women and children had already begun scavenging on the forest floor. Eren frowned. 

He glanced up and saw many fruits in the trees. He pulled out his scanner and scanned them. Most of them were poisonous but a bright yellow one with pink spots appeared to be healthy. Eren checked to see how much leeway he had with the rope before darting up into the tree. He heard gasps of shock from the kids, the only ones to notice what he was doing. He quickly gathered a couple of the fruits and put them in his back pack basket. He swiftly dropped down and used the scanner to pick out a tall grass that could be used. He stared at the reading. It seemed like it could be used as a flour when dried and ground up. He collected some, only a little, and moved on. He collected more things that he recognized, as well as herbs that he'd seen before. He noticed a light brown mushroom on the ground and scanned it. He quickly grabbed it when he realized it was edible. 

The hardest plants to figure out, were the ones that the _root_ was edible and no other parts. Eren gathered some odd potato looking plants as well as what appeared to be some purple yams. All of a sudden, a shiver went down Eren's spine. He carefully slid out of the basket harness and looked around. Nothing seemed amiss, but something felt...off. He climbed into one of the trees and suddenly he could see it. 

It looked almost like a wolf had a child with a snake. It had green and brown fur in a diamond pattern and wolf eyes. Eyes that were focused in on it's prey. Eren lunged forward, out of the tree right as it leaped for the kid. He crashed into it, throwing it off balance and away from it's target. It snarled and he whipped back, just in time to avoid two long, hollow fangs that dripped venom. 

Some of the pitch black substance fell onto the ground and Eren noticed that the plants it landed on began to hiss and steam before shriveling up. The snake wolf growled. It had changed it's target. None of the children or women were threats, they didn't carry weapons. However, Eren had flat out challenged it by attacking. Eren began to circle the beast and it did the same. It lunged forward and he dodged but he also noticed that it cut through the cord on his wrist. 

_Thank god. At least now, if I die, Hange won't die right after me._

"Run!" he shouted. The women scooped up the children and ran. Hange paused and stared at him. "I said run!"

With a last glance back, Hange darted off, making sure that the others made it back safely. Eren glared at the beast. 

"Alright you stupid dog. Let's do this." It lunged at him and Eren slipped around it. He grabbed the fur but it shook him off. They backed off again before it snapped at him. Eren knew that if they dragged this out, he would lose. He could still go for a few hours...but he didn't want to take the chance of it going that long. He shot forward and it seemed shocked that he was making the first move. 

He lunged onto it's back and managed to get the remainder of the cord around it's throat. When it realized that he now had a choke hold on it, the beast began to thrash in an attempt to shake him off. Eren simply tightened his hold on the cord and pulled it tighter around it's throat. Soon the beast began to slow, movements becoming jerky and weakened. Eren held on until it collapsed. Even after it collapsed, he held on for what felt like an hour. 

After that, he let go and sighed, collapsing against it's side. He realized how soft the fur was, an odd thing for a predator. He pulled out his scanner and it analyzed the creature. It couldn't figure out what it was, unsurprisingly, but it appeared to be edible. The meat wasn't poisonous, not to mention that the claws, bones, and fur could all be used. Eren scanned the venom and shivered. 

The venom had a pH scale of one. That was more acidic than stomach acid, no wonder the plants had died almost immediately. It made him more glad that he hadn't been hit with any. He glanced around. Most of the baskets had been left. There were about fifteen of them, not to mention his-which was full- and the corpse of the beast. Eren ran a hand through the creature's fur. It wasn't long enough to use as rope. 

Then some vines on a tree caught his attention. He scanned them to make sure they were safe before he pulled them off. He tied the baskets shut and then bound them to the corpse. He hefted the creature over his shoulder, eager to get back to the village. He followed the animal trails closer until he could hear the sounds of people shouting. Or rather, one person. 

"We have to go after him! Do you have any idea how this will appear to Levi when he gets back??" Hange bellowed. One of the guards shook his head. 

"You know as well as I do that we can't risk sending anyone out to fight that thing. No one will come back alive." Eren staggered into view and a child noticed him. They screamed and pointed at him. Eren couldn't tell if it was a scream of joy or fear. Everyone looked and Eren let the corpse slide off his back. He raised his hands and smiled at them. 

"I'm back," he said. 

The next thing he knew, he was being toppled by Hange, who had jumped to embrace him in a hug.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!!" she screeched in his ear. Eren winced but smiled at her tear filled face. 

"Yeah, I'm alive." The guards and women began to murmur with awe.

"How did you kill it? It's hide is impossible to cut through and you were unarmed," one of the guards said. Eren paused, staring at them in shock. 

_So it's kind of like the Nemean lion of this place._

"I choked it. Even if I can't pierce it's hide and I'm unarmed, as long as I can cut off its source of oxygen, also known as the air, then it'll suffocate to death and I'll live." They stared at him in shock and one of them laughed. The guard came over and pounded Eren on the back. Eren winced. The guard smiled at him. 

"I think he deserves the pelt. He's earned it, don't you agree?" he asked the other villagers. They all nodded and Hange noticed the baskets. 

"You even brought back the baskets!" Eren smiled sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair. 

"I figured it would be kind of a waste if we spent all day gathering food and then lost all of it, not to mention losing the work that was put into making the baskets. So I figured I might as well." The women charged him and he found himself swarmed. They wanted to kiss his cheeks, his forehead, his hands, and it confused the hell out of Eren. 

"Thank you," one of them whispered through their tears. He didn't understand how important each basket was to them. He didn't understand that without a basket, they couldn't help gather or partake of food until they've made a new one. No, Eren knew nothing. He only knew that it would be a waste to leave them and the food collected, so he took them back with him. 

"Big question though, how are we supposed to cut the pelt to get it off and get at the meat and bones?" one of the guards asked, poking the beast with his spear. Eren thought for a moment before carefully reaching into its' mouth. He snapped off one of the fangs and noticed the small pool of black venom in it. He carefully dripped it over the stomach of the creature, in a thin line. The guards watched in shock as it dissolved enough that Eren could cut the muscle away from the fur. 

"Like that. Be careful though, it's really strong." The guards nodded and carried the beast off. Eren turned back to the women and children. Hange grinned at him and he smiled at them. "Now then, we should get started on dinner."

Dinner that night was a feast. The food was delicious and the meat of the creature he'd killed, a Solf, was juicy and rich. Covered in mouth watering seasonings, everyone was letting out groans at the taste. Eren made sure to set aside some of it, drying it with salt and smoking the meat. The others seemed confused but he smiled at them and said it would make sense later. 

That night, Eren was so full and tired that he didn't even realize that no one had tied him to the stake in the center of the tent. He smiled to himself in the pile of furs. 

_It's...it's nice here. I think I like it here._

_I think...I could stay._


	8. Return of the Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi comes home to find out about Eren's deed. He goes in to wake Eren only to find the brat untied and still asleep. Will Levi tie him up again?  
> (Levi's POV)

Levi returned carrying two creatures over his shoulders. If they eat them quickly, then it should be alright. He came back and was confused for a moment. There were women and children taking down decorations for festivals. He glanced around until he spotted the person he was looking for. He left the animals at the pile where they'd collect and went over to Hange. 

"Oi, Hange, what the hell happened here?" Levi asked. Hange noticed him and grinned, screeching a cry of excitement. He steps back quickly to avoid her hug and she frowns at him, pouting. 

"Just because you won't let me hug you, I'm not going to tell you!" Levi sighed. 

"Fine then, I'll just ask someone else," he said, turning away. Immediately Hange whipped around. 

"NOOO! Don't do that, then I don't get to tell you what happened!" she whined. Levi turned and glared at her, internally smirking. 

_Always so predictable, Hange. You like being the one with all the knowledge and the right to share it but unfortunately for you, you aren't the only one with that knowledge here._

"So? What happened?" Hange sighed and then her eyes brightened. "That's right, they should've finished it by now!" 

"Do I even want to know?" he sighed as Hange went further into the village. They arrived at the fur worker tents. These guys were the ones who made furs into clothes so Levi wondered what they were doing here. Hange poked her head in. 

"Are you guys finished?" she asked. The two women inside smiled. 

"Of course. It's the first time we've worked with this sort of material, but it should make for an excellent cloak. Please give it to Eren as our thanks." Levi frowned. What the hell? Had Eren been outside of the tent yesterday? He glared at Hange who ignored him as she took the pelt. What kind of pelt, Levi couldn't tell. Hange's eyes widened as she held it. 

"It's so soft!" she exclaimed. The women nodded. 

"It is, isn't it? Kind of surprising but I suppose I can't complain. I'd rather work furs into clothes than metal into armor, that's for sure." Levi wasn't totally sure what the hell they were talking about. All he knew was that he hated surprises and it had something to do with Eren. 

"Hange, you'd better start talking right the fuck now." Hange grinned and stepped out into the light. Levi felt like he'd been sucker punched in the gut when he saw what was in her hands. "Is that a fucking _Solf_ pelt??"

Hange grinned, clearly proud of herself. "Yup!"

"How the hell-"

"Guess who brought it down?" Levi froze, a sinking feeling in his chest. 

"Who?" It was a whisper, delicate and pleading. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to know the cost of that pelt or who had fallen to the venomous fangs. Hange cackled and pressed it into his hands. Numb fingers curled around the silky fur as Hange leaned forward to whisper in his ear. 

"Eren did."

Panic. 

That was all Levi could think about as I ran to our tent. He had seen the damage those fangs could inflict. He knew how much a person could suffer as they slowly dissolved. Levi threw open the tent flap. 

"Eren!" He realized Eren was sleeping and sighed in relief. Levi came forward and studied him. As far as he could see, Eren was unharmed. Levi sighed in relief and gently placed the pelt on Eren. Then he noticed at Eren wasn't tied up. He stared at the rope taunting him. He reached for it and then stilled. Eren had fought. He'd fought to protect this village while Levi was gone. 

Levi couldn't tie him up.

Such a thing would be disgraceful to his family and tribe. He pulled his hand away from the rope and sat down next to Eren. He sighed and ran a hand through the soft, chocolate locks while he waited for Eren to wake up.


	9. The Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren has proven himself to many in the village. He is strong, reliable, and helpful.  
> So why is he still bound?  
> Levi wants to ask Eren a question but with his newfound popularity, he may not get the chance.

Eren yawned and sat up, feeling a fur slide off him. He caught it before it fell off completely and realized that it was the Solf pelt. Someone had made it so the pelt could be used as a cloak, with the head kind of like a helmet almost. Eren smiled to himself he looked at it.

"You're awake," a voice commented dryly. Eren smiled as he looked up. 

"You're back." Levi nodded, still watching Eren. They sat there in silence before Levi sighed. 

"Eren...I heard about what you did. About how you killed a Solf while I was gone." Eren looked away, waiting for the angry tirade. When it never came, he peeked at Levi. Levi sighed. 

"I'm not angry, Eren. Actually, I'm happy. Solfs are a major threat to us, especially since we didn't know how to kill them. Now that we do, we will be more able to defend ourselves against them. So thank you." Eren was shocked. Levi was bowing to him. Even though Levi was sitting, it was pretty clearly a bow. 

"Yeah...sure. No problem." Levi's odd behavior was beginning to freak Eren out. He'd never seen Levi act this way before. Levi straightened with a different look in his eye. 

"That said, how did you figure out you could suffocate it? Or for that matter, that you couldn't pierce its' hide?" Eren grinned sheepishly. 

"Um, I didn't, actually. I didn't have any weapons and I didn't really know what else to do. So I just used my hands and the cord that I'd been tied to Hange with. As for how I knew how to kill it...There's a story where I'm from. It's a story where a man known as Heracles, or, more commonly, Hercules has to kill a lion that was plaguing a nearby land. The lion was said to have a hide so strong that they couldn't break it, that metal swords would shatter on its' hide. So Herakles realized that he could choke it to death and skin it with it's own claws. Since I didn't have much else to go off of, I figured that would work just as well." Eren looked up as he finished, surprised at the attentive look Levi was giving him. 

"You should share that tale with us at the fireside tonight," he said. Eren frowned. 

"Fireside?" Levi sighed. 

"Right, you don't know about that. Since I've been keeping you in here after dinner every night, you've never attended a fireside." 

"What is a fireside?" Eren asked. Levi smiled a tiny bit, just the corner of his mouth quirking up. 

"A fireside is a chance where we all gather together to share stories we've come up with or events seen. Many of our traditions are passed down orally through firesides. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. Everyone sits around the fire and the adults take turns talking. The children don't have to participate, though they can. It's something we do to ensure a close knitted group." Eren nodded. It would make sense to have some way to keep everyone together. That way even if people began to get angry with each other, they'd have a way to rant about it or tell it in a story and have it settled as a group. 

"So you want me to tell this story at the fireside? Why am I all of a sudden attending now?" Levi sighed. 

"After your stunt with the Solf, everyone wants to hear your thoughts. They want to really get to know the person the gods chose as my bride. Unfortunately, that means that I can't keep you to myself anymore." Eren laughed at Levi's pouting expression. 

"Aww, is someone jealous?" Eren teased. Levi glared at him for a moment and then sighed. 

"So what if I am? Now, you should get up. Hange and Petra will come soon to have you help gather plants." With that, Levi left. Eren chuckled to himself. He couldn't believe that Levi was jealous. Levi, the guy who was always so concealed about his emotions. Eren pulled the cloak around him and stood. It was then that he noticed he didn't have a thin cord tying him to a spike in the ground. He frowned.

_Did Levi not notice? No, that doesn't seem like something he'd ignore._

"EEREN!!" Hange shrieked, jumping at him. He narrowly spun to the side and she collapsed in a pile of furs. She burst up, laughing. Petra peered in.

"Jeez, Hange, you shouldn't try to jump him like that. Sorry, Eren." He smiled at her. 

"It's not that big of a deal. Besides, I think Hange got the short end of that stick." Hange guffawed and clambered out. Eren followed the two to where the women and children were waiting. Two of the women smiled when they saw him wearing the cloak. 

"Do you like it?" one of them asked. Eren smiled and nodded. 

"It's very soft and easy to move in. Thank you for making it." The two blushed and with that they entered the forest. Eren was in charge of watching the kids today and making sure they actually worked. It was pretty obvious they didn't want to work but they had no choice. So they often just randomly plucked up plants and tossed them in their baskets. Eren frowned and called all the children to him. He sat them down and began to talk. 

"I've got a question for you little guys. Think you can answer it?" he asked. They nodded eagerly. 

"Of course we can! We're smart!" Eren chuckled, hiding the knowing light in his eyes. 

_Bingo._

"You're smart, you say? Alright, let's test that." He reached over and plucked up a dark brown mushroom with orange spots on the top. "Is this poisonous or edible?"

"What's poy-son-us?" one of the girls asked. Eren smiled at her. 

"It means you get really sick and can even die if you eat it." One of the boys looked at it. 

"It's poisonous!" he declared. Eren smiled at him. 

"How do you know?" The boy pointed to the bright orange spots as he spoke. 

"Because it has bright colors! The head warrior often tells us not to pick the brighter colored plants because they're dangerous," he said proudly. Eren nodded, pleased that at least one of them knew what to look for. He stared at them all. 

"So. Here's the real question I wanted to ask you. How many of you have this mushroom in your baskets, do you think?" Their eyes widened and they glanced at each other. Eren sighed. "Look guys, it's pretty clear you don't want to be here. I know, because for the most part you've chased each other around and occasionally tossed random plants in your baskets. So how many of you likely have at least one poisonous thing in there?"

"Probably...all of us?" one of the girls asked weakly. Eren nodded. 

"I'll show you what to look for and what is edible. Don't worry about getting in trouble, I won't tell anyone, but don't just pick whatever you feel like." They nodded. 

For the rest of the early afternoon, Eren showed them which plants were edible and how to get them. He dug up plants like yams and a kind of wild carrot he hadn't seen, picked fruits that looked more like wasp nests, and collected beans and berries with them. When they came back, everyone put the contents of their search onto the tables. The kids looked through their mother's basket contents and came back to him with other plants that he hadn't shown them. 

"What're these?" they asked eagerly. Eren smiled at them. 

"These are herbs. They can be used in medicine or as flavoring." One of the boys pouted. 

"You didn't show us any of these," he said. The others nodded and Eren smiled at them again. 

"That's because you didn't need to know. More important than herbs are the actual fruits and vegetables. We can't eat just herbs. We need real food and that's what I showed you." They nodded and, following what Eren did, prepared dinner. Since the warriors had brought back many animals, Eren figured they could save some. He smoked some of the meat, ignoring the odd looks the warriors gave him. Levi came out and frowned at the strips of meat. 

"What is this? Who made this?" he asked. The women and children looked away. Eren stepped forward. 

"I did." Levi stared at him. 

"Eren, one of the things we do not do here, under any circumstance, is waste food." Eren bristled and straightened, standing face to face with Levi. 

"Is that what you think I'd do? You think that I'd waste food even though I know there's not a lot? Wow, I didn't realize you had a low opinion of me, Levi," he spat. Levi glared at him, back straightening. 

"I didn't say that. Just explain why you'd do this." Eren glared at him a moment longer before sighing. 

"It's called jerky. It's smoked meat and takes longer to decay than cooked or raw meat. In other words, this won't go bad for a couple more days." He heard gasps at this proclamation and Levi frowned, studying it. 

"How is that possible? What makes it different from cooked meat?" Eren sighed. 

"It's _how_ it's cooked that matters. When you smoke the meat, you dry it out, getting rid of all the moisture. This helps protect it from decaying. Where I'm from, people have found bodies that were dried and buried and are almost intact. Some of them even still have hair though it has been hundreds of years since they died." Levi stared at him in shock. 

"That's possible?" he asked, staring at the jerky. Eren nodded. 

"There are two ways to make a corpse like that. One is drying them out through extreme temperature, or freeze drying them. The ones that are freeze dried last longer but it's easier to use the other way." Levi nodded. 

"We'll see if these strips actually go past the date of decay. I don't think it will, but you've been strange and full of odd ideas since the start." Eren rolled his eyes at that and they began to serve dinner. It was extremely tasty. The drink was better than previous drinks, tasting slightly of coconut. The wasp nest seemed similar to the coconut in both flavor and appearance of the inside. 

And of course, after dinner was Eren's first fireside. Levi led him to the bonfire that they began to circle around. Levi had him sit to his left and Eren wondered what that meant. In a lot of older cultures, the left was reserved for someone important. Soon everyone was there and it was silent. Eren frowned slightly. He'd envisioned a brighter, more chatty sort of thing. Levi sighed next to him and Eren looked at him. 

"They want you to go first," Levi explained. Eren's eyes widened. 

"OH! Um...okay." He looked at them and swallowed nervously. "I'm going to tell you a story from my homeland. Or rather, a legend that I heard."

"Yay! A story from the stranger!" Hange cheered. Eren swallowed nervously. 

"Okay so, a long time ago, there were gods. These gods all ruled over some part of nature and life. For example there was Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and Poseidon, the god of the sea. But over all the gods, was the king of the gods. His name was Zeus. Zeus ruled the sky, the land, and everything on them. However, Zeus had a problem. Zeus was the type of god who'd go out and court whomever he felt."

"He would just court them?" one of the women asked in shock. Eren nodded. 

"He would court anyone who caught his eye as long as they were a woman. Many times this caused trouble for the mortal women he courted. Although it wasn't technically his fault that they were hurt or suffered. It was the fault of his wife, Hera." There were gasps around the fire. 

"He's mated yet courting others?" a voice cried indignantly. Eren nodded. 

"So many women suffered at her hands. Whether they were animals or mortals or immortals didn't matter. Hera would make them and Zeus suffer for his infidelity. One day however, a new woman caught Zeus' eye. She was a beautiful woman but was already married. Zeus however, wanted her for himself. So he started a war and had the husband go out to battle. Once he was gone, Zeus appeared and began to court her. She was swept away by his godliness and eventually accepted him. Soon she was pregnant with child, a child of Zeus. And eventually, the child was born." 

They all stared at Eren in shock as he took a breath. He exhaled slowly. 

"Hera was not pleased when she discovered this however. She punished Zeus and sent serpents to kill the babe while it slept. The babe however, killed the snakes instead. It tied them in a knot and treated them like a new toy. His mortal parents quickly realized that the serpents were sent by Hera and left him in the woods. Soon the babe began to wail, attracting the wolves. However Zeus could not just stand by and let his son die. He sent Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Hermes, god of medicine, to get the babe." 

"I bet Hera wasn't happy with that, either?" someone called. Immediately the person was shushed for speaking out of turn. Eren nodded. 

"Hera was furious but agreed to let the babe live. He grew up being called Herakles. He was strong, his might more than a normal man. One day though, he lost his mind to a madness sent by Hera, and slaughtered his family. His wife and children died at his hands. He grieved greatly, overcome with what he had done. Hera wasn't through with him yet. She declared that the only way he could be forgiven for the massacre of his family was if he completed twelve impossible labors for his cousin who was the king of a neighboring nation." 

"That's not fair! She's the one who made him go mad," one of the children protested. The mother quickly shushed them so Eren could speak again. 

"Herakles agreed and went to his cousin. The first of his labors was to kill a lion, a great cat, that had been terrorizing the lands of Nemea. Herakles agreed and left to kill the beast. The only problem was that weapons could not pierce its' hide and its' claws could cut through the strongest armor."

"That sounds like a Solf!" someone commented. There were nods of agreement. Eren smiled. 

"It does, doesn't it? Anyway, Herakles had to come up with some way to kill the beast. The Nemean lion was a danger and would kill him if it got the chance. Herakles attacked it with a club, which broke on the first swing. The lion attacked and he narrowly dodged. He had no other weapon yet he needed to bring down the beast. So he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around its' throat. He began to slowly squeeze the life out of it, like a python and its' prey. Slowly but surely the beast weakened and died. Once it was dead, Herakles used the claws of the beast to collect the pelt. He wore that pelt all the way back to his cousins' palace as proof of the lions' defeat. And that, was the completion of his first trial." With that, Eren went silent. He yawned and noticed some of the others doing the same. Some of the children had begun to nod off too. 

"What about the other trials?" someone called. Eren's head drooped and he struggled to stay awake. He heard a sigh from next to him. The next thing he knew, he was being cradled against someones' chest. 

"Geez, what are you a brat? I think that's all for tonight. Get yourselves to bed and I'll take Eren." Eren knew it was Levi speaking. Knew that Levi was the one carrying him. Eren forced his eyes to open a bit. 

"I can walk on my own," he mumbled. Levi raised an eyebrow. 

"You really think I'll believe that? You must be a bigger idiot than I thought." Eren grumbled but snuggled closer to Levi. He felt someone placing him in a pile of soft furs and Eren snuggled into them. They were nice and cool but not cold. He lay his head down and felt someone begin to run their hand through his hair. 

"Hey, Eren? You're probably not going to remember this so I figure I'll repeat it sometime later...but...I want to mate with you, Eren. I want you to be my bride and my wife. I want you to be my partner for eternity. So what I'm asking is...will you marry me?" Eren knew he should answer. It seemed wrong to leave him with no answer. Eren thought on his days here. Thought about this place and what it was like. 

They didn't think him grotesque for the scars on his arms. 

They didn't tell him what to do or how to do things.

They were open to new ideas. 

Levi was kind and gentle, even though he seemed rough and harsh. 

Hange was fun and playful though she still watched him closely. 

Petra was kind and sweet. 

Erwin was large and polite even though he had freaky eyebrows. 

The kids were fun and happy not to mention eager to learn. 

The people here were welcoming. So much more so than where he'd come from. Where he came from, you were looked down on if you were an oddity. You were considered a freak if you cut yourself. So Eren rolled over and looked at Levi's face. He inhaled. 

"I accept..." he murmured. He forced his eyes to open enough to see how Levi reacted. His eyes widened as tears filled Levi's eyes. Levi leaned down and kissed his forehead. 

"Go to sleep, Eren," he said. Eren felt himself get pulled closer to Levi. He snuggled closer and drifted off to sleep. 


	10. Walking down the Aisle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the title says.

It took a couple days for all the preparations to be ready. People began preparing gifts for both the bride and groom as well as gathering ingredients for dinner. Eren decided it was time to introduce them to a method of preparing food unlike the previous ones. They were shocked when he took chunks of meat and impaled them on sharpened sticks. He seasoned them and put them in the fire. That first night of preparations, Eren introduced them to shish-key-bobs. Honestly, it was surprising to him that they hadn't ever made them before. 

"You really haven't ever done this?" he asked Hange as he was preparing them. She shook her head. 

"We don't normally experiment. There's too many risks involved and what happens when we waste food? We simply never saw a reason to try this sort of thing." Eren nodded at her explanation and smiled. 

"Don't worry. I'll bring in a lot of methods that don't actually waste food. I'm going to revolutionize your methods of cooking and the foods you have." Hange laughed at that. 

"I'm pretty sure you already have!" Eren nodded, shuddering as he recalled the nasty paste that Levi had brought him that one time. Just the memory brought vile to his mouth. 

On the second day, Levi decided where everyone would be and who counted as important guests. When Eren found out that the guest list had been decided without any of his, Hange swore she saw flames envelope him. Eren was _pissed_. 

"You aren't going to let any of my family come? I don't know how it is for you guys, but where I'm from it's a momentous occasion. You bring all of your family and you aren't going to let me?" Levi frowned down at Eren. He could understand where the boy was coming from but...he sighed. 

"Eren, if they found out where we are, they would take you away from me. I'm not willing to risk that." Eren glared at that before heading forward and grabbing the communicator. 

"So let's ask, shall we?" Levi sighed but didn't stop Eren as he called home base. 

"Hey, Eren, it's been a while. What's new?"

"I'm getting married." There was an awkward silence on the other side. Then someone laughed and congratulations were passed around from the other side of the phone. 

"So, did you call us just to tell us that or is there something else?" Eren sighed and sat down. 

"Levi doesn't want to invite any of my family, because he's afraid that if they find out where I am, they'll take me away. I want to know if it's okay to bring some of them, have some of the villagers blindfold them, and then bring them to the village for the ceremony and maybe the after party." There was murmurs on the other side as people spoke. 

"We've gotten permission although we'll have to ask all the individuals one by one. Who were you thinking of bringing?" Eren jumped at the chance, knowing that Levi was listening. 

"Mikasa, Armin, my mom, Connie, Sasha, Marco, and Jean. Is that okay?" He heard the sound of someone scribbling something on paper. 

"Only those seven? That's pretty few." Eren sighed. 

"I'm an oddity. I don't make friends very easily. Besides, who else would I invite?" There were chuckles on the other side. 

"It should be alright. Just make sure this Levi is on board." With that, the call ended. Eren turned to Levi triumphantly. Levi sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Let me get this straight. You want me to take some men back to where you were captured, blind fold them, and bring them here?" Eren nodded. Before Levi could shoot him down, Eren began to make his case. 

"It's not that many, Levi. Not compared to the soldiers here. These are people who are important to me, please?" Levi studied him for a moment. Eren put on pleading eyes and Levi sighed. 

"Fine. I'll take some men the day of the wedding and bring all who show up." With that, Levi stalked out. Eren, however, was ecstatic. He'd gotten Levi to accept some of the people he wanted to be at his wedding.

Mikasa and Armin were pretty obvious choices. They had been his best friends for as long as he could remember and Eren didn't want to get married without them knowing. It would feel wrong to him, if he kept them out of it. Sure, Mikasa could be really protective and Armin was always suspicious of people, but Eren wanted to stay. It was more than just a job or a mission now, this place had become a home. They accepted him so freely that he loved it. He had genuinely grown to love this place. 

His mom was the next obvious choice. His father was an asshole who'd gotten divorced so he could remarry his first wife, a woman by the name of Dina, so there was no reason to invite him. Or his son, Eren's half brother, Zeke. His mom though had always supported him and helped him whenever she could. She was the only other person besides Mikasa and Armin who didn't say a thing about being an oddity. He was grateful to her for all that she had done for him and he remembered her talking about how she wanted to see her son get married, and be all grown up. He smiled at the thought of how she'd react. 

Connie and Sasha were people who didn't care about his being an oddity. They were idiots, but if you got on their good side and became their friends, they were more loyal than a German Shepard. They stuck by you through thick and thin. However, they had little quirks that made people look down on them or view them as inferior. Sasha was always eating, that girl had a bottomless pit for a stomach. Connie was always cracking jokes that made sense only to him. Eren loved them none the less and actually appreciated how different they were compared to normal people. 

Marco and Jean were a little less obvious. It was a well known fact among his friends that he and Jean didn't get along. However, Eren admired Jean for his strength and determination. He also wanted to rub it in Jean's face that he was getting married first. And of course there was Marco. Marco was a ray of sunshine, a literal angel at times. How in the hell he and Jean are dating, Eren had no fucking clue. But they made a good couple together so he let it slide. Eren remembered how he quickly became friends with Marco. Marco came up to him out of the blue, asked him if he was an oddity, and said it was so cool that he was. Oddly enough, Marco liked the thought of being the only him. He figured it made him special. That thought made Eren laugh.

_The grass is always greener on the other side, huh?_

The day after that, Eren found Petra and a couple others taking his measurements. Apparently there were certain robes that each person would wear and they needed to be perfect. Eren was slightly concerned since it seemed like they'd be working with grass and furs but he figured they'd make it work. Within a few days, it was time. All the people he wanted to invite had accepted, and now it's time for the wedding. Levi had left early in the morning to get the others and when they came back, Eren noticed that people were very accepting of them. 

Carla Jaeger kept crying, so happy to see her son get married. Admittedly, she'd never thought it would be in this sort of situation, but still, her little boy was all grown up. Mikasa was a little less pleased, she didn't like how Eren had been basically strong armed into the situation. She made a her dislike of Levi well known, even when Eren asked her to stop glaring at him. 

Armin was smiling, happy if his friend was, although he wished he could've seen the way to the village. Not knowing how to get back home made him feel uneasy. Connie was happily cracking jokes and making people laugh, even if they didn't understand his jokes or their meanings. Eren was glad that the comic relief had arrived because it helped calm his nerves. 

Sasha was horrified at the food that had been prepared. She told Eren that if he'd let her know about the food, she would've brought some as her gift. Eren laughed it off, saying how she would've eaten it all. Sasha pouted for a moment after that, but accepted it. It was the truth, after all. Marco was bright and happy, congratulating Eren and telling everyone to look after him. They were all pleased to and it made Eren happy to see people he cared about getting along with his new family. 

The person he'd been most worried about, Jean, actually behaved himself. He didn't talk much, preferring instead to follow Marco around like a shadow. After a few hours of pointless chatter and cheerful discussions, Eren and Levi were sent to different areas to change into their new clothes. Eren went into the tent that he and Levi would share, somewhat nervous to see what they wanted him to wear. He began to hyperventilate as he looked. 

It was some kind of robe, almost like a yukata from Japan or one of the dresses that Chinese girls would wear, but the frightening part were the sleeves. There were none. His arms, and the scars he had carved onto them, would be completely on display. He hadn't shown anyone those before. No one, even though he had a feeling that Mikasa knew about them. He put it on without taking off his uniform but Petra shooed him back in to take it off. Eren was hesitant but he slid the uniform off and pulled the robe on. 

It was a tawny brown color, like the coat of a mountain lion. It was really soft too. It fit him like a glove, tight and warm around his chest while spilling out into a loose skirt from his waist down. He came out like that and Petra oohed and awed at his arms. She carefully placed his Solf pelt on him, arranging it so it hung off his shoulders. He smiled at her as she led him to where everyone else was waiting. Eyes widened in surprise when they saw him, carved arms on display and a massive beast hanging from his shoulders. 

Eren inhaled and walked towards the center where Levi was waiting. Levi was dressed in a robe similar to Erens' but in a different fur type. His was pitch black, bringing out specks of blue in his eyes and emphasizing his pale skin. Eren smiled nervously at him when he arrived at the stand. Levi smiled. 

"Eren Jaeger, do you before the gods, accept me as your partner, mate, and lover?" Levi asked. Eren nodded. 

"I do. And do you, Levi Ackerman, before the gods, accept me as your companion, friend, and beloved?" Hange had taught Eren what to say before the ceremony so he wouldn't embarrass himself. He was grateful for it now. Levi smiled and nodded. 

"I do. You are mine and I am yours, now and forever." The crowd echoed the last part, 'now and forever.' After that, the feasting began. There was nothing else to do. No reason to kiss when that was considered a private thing and doing that in front of others was a taboo here. Eren laughed and danced, surprised by how easily he accepted his fate at Levi's side. Then, as the sun began to lower, and torches were lit, Levi pulled Eren away from the party. He led him to a hidden grove where Eren was surprised. Delicate crystals shone before him. 

"Levi, this is incredible!" Eren spun around with a laugh. Levi pulled him close. 

"You're so beautiful, did you know that?" Eren giggled but waited. It seemed Levi had something he wanted to say. "Eren, this is where newly mated couples finish it. It would be a little freaky for everyone if we finished the ceremony in our tent so I secured this private place for us." Eren realized what he was saying and flushed. 

"You mean...you mean you want to do it?" he asked. Levi chuckled and kissed Eren's forehead. 

"You're so cute." Eren turned around to face Levi and their lips met, gentle, soft, and sweet. At first, they just enjoyed the feel of closeness but then Levi licked the bottom of Eren's lips. Eren parted them and Levi didn't waste a second. He slipped his tongue into Eren's mouth and began to explore. Eren leaned into the kiss, loving the way that it felt like Levi was dominating him. Soon they toppled into the ground and Levi pulled away for air. 

"Are you...are you sure about me?" Eren asked, hesitantly. Levi kissed him gently again. 

"Relax. I'll take it slow and give you time to get used to it." Levi quickly freed the dress from Eren's skin, exposing all of his tanned glory. Levi traced the scars on his arms and kissed them lightly as he slowly made his way down Eren's stomach. He dipped his fingers in a nearby puddle of something and slipped one of them into Eren's ass. Eren moaned, arching his back. 

_How the fuck does it feel that good?? I thought first times were supposed to hurt!_

"This is a special substance, used to make sex easier and more pleasant for both parties involved," Levi murmured into Eren's ear. Eren moaned as Levi added a second finger, scissoring them gently. Soon Eren was writhing on his hand as Levi pressed four fingers into it. 

"Please! Please, Levi, more!" Eren begged. His cock was heavy and painfully aroused and Levi chuckled. Levi kissed him and let his dress fall as well. Eren moaned at the sight of Levis' thick, juicy cock. Levi positioned it carefully at Eren's entrance and thrust in. It was slow, forcing Eren to feel every inch. Eren moaned and gasped as Levi slowly began to press deeper into the boy. Soon they were nothing more than a heaving pile of limbs and moans, Levi pounding viciously into Eren, and Eren taking it like a bitch. Soon they both came and Levi carried the boy back to their tent. He kissed the boy sweetly. 

"You're mine now, Eren. I love you." 

Eren would live for years with these people, rarely heading back to his home reality. He and Levi would never sire children, although many in the village asked them if they would try. Eren and Levi were both content just to be with each other. Eren was happy with Levi and felt no need to return. Every now and then, someone from his old family would come to visit but for the most part, Eren managed to keep his families separate. He didn't mind. He loved Levi and wanted to spend his forever with him. 

Looking back on it, he never would've expected that the strange oddity who killed his squad, would end up being the most precious person to him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. I really wanted to finish this story, I seriously cannot for the life of me, drag a story out. I hope you enjoyed, sorry if the SMUT wasn't as smutty as expected. Maybe I can change the rating and take it down a notch because of the lack of real smut. I really want to hear your thoughts on this and what you think I should've done. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think is best. I love reading your comments and responding to you.

**Author's Note:**

> Aw man. May I just say that I love the ending of this chapter. I wanted Eren to be feisty so badly but I couldn't think of a way to put it in until right then. I debated over which was better "go suck a dick" or "go fuck yourself." I decided on the former. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter aside from the sad deaths.


End file.
